UC-NRLF 


4   525  3SM 


REFRIGERATING 


MAC! !! 


.. 


GIFT  OF 


THE 


DE  LA  VERGNE  REFRIGERATING 

A  I 

MACHINE  COMPANY 


OF  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Organized.     Kebriaary     14,     188O. 


OFFICE  AND  WORKS: 

FOOT  OF  EAST  138TH  STREET  (PORT    MORRIS), 

NEW    YORK. 


THIRD     KDITION. 


JOHN  C.  DE   LA  VERGNE,  President. 

LOUIS  E.  DE  LA  VERGNE,  Vice-President. 

C.  H.  CONE,   Secretary. 


NEW    YORK: 
1890. 


PRESS  OF 

JENKINS  &  McCOWAN, 

224-228  CENTRE  ST. 


ANHYDROUS  LIQUID  AMMONIA 


FOR 


ICE    MACHINES 


AND 


REFRIGERATING   APPARATUS 


MANUFACTURED    BY 


THE  DE  LA  VERGNE  REFRIGERATING 
MACHINE  COMPANY, 


We  guarantee  all  Gas  Manufactured  by  us  to  be  perfectly  Anhydrous ; 
a  stock  is  kept  constantly  on  hand,  and  shipments  to  customers  are  made 
in  wrought-iron  packages,  hermetically  sealed. 


FACTORY:    FOOT  OF  EAST  138TH  STREET, 
NEW    YORK.. 


INTRODUCTION. 


IN  presenting  this  third  edition  of  our  illustrated 
catalogue  to  the  public  interested  in  mechanical  refrig- 
eration and  ice-making,  we  call  particular  attention  to 
one  great  change  we  have  introduced  since  the  issue  of 
our  last  edition.  This  is  the  double-acting  compressor. 
While  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  machines  and 
system,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  the  expansion  and  com- 
pression of  the  ammonia,  have  remained  the  same — and 
we  may  say,  to-day,  will  remain  the  same  in  future — and 
while  the  general  style  and  appearance  of  the  machine 
has  likewise  undergone  no  change,  yet  we  have  for  many 
years  experimented  on  many  different  forms  of  double- 
acting  compressors,  which  would  be  capable  of  handling 
the  ammonia  equally  well  on  both  sides  of  the  piston  in 
connection  with  our  system  of  oil-circulation.  The 
great  advantage  offered  by  a  gas-pump  which  would  do 
twice  the  work  with  hardly  any  increase  in  friction  was 
something  to  be  worked  for.  The  result  of  our  labors 
has  been  a  double-acting  compressor,  which  in  every  de- 
tail of  its  working  is  equal  to  our  old  single-acting  com- 
pressor, does  double  the  work,  and  saves  one-eighth  of 
the  power  to  operate  it  over  a  single-acting  compressor 


VI  INTROD  UCTION. 


of  the  same  capacity.  In  addition  to  this  advantage 
the  cost  of  our  machine  is  greatly  reduced,  and  the 
space  which  the  machine  occupies  is  the  same  for  a 
doubled  capacity. 

The  condensers  have  been  made  considerably  lower 
than  in  former  years.  By  a  large  series  of  experiments 
we  have  found  that  the  high  condensers  were  only  partly 
efficient  in  absorbing  the  heat  from  the  gas,  z,  e.,  only 
part  of  the  pipes  did  actual  cooling  work,  while  the 
balance  remained  inactive.  This  has  reduced  the  height 
of  the  condensers  about  nine  feet,  which  is  a  gain  in  so 
far  as  the  condenser-room  thereby  needs  to  be  so  much 
less  in  height. 

The  engine-room  connections  have  been  simplified 
by  abolishing  the  low-pressure  oil  tank.  The  latter  has 
been  found  superfluous  when  the  oil  is  injected  under 
pressure;  which  gives  us  a  slight  advantage  over  our  old 
system  of  charging  the  oil  into  the  compressor  under 
the  suction  or  back-pressure  of  the  machine. 

The  pipe  system,  with  its  cocks  and  fittings,  has  un- 
dergone no  change,  but  by  adding  quite  a  number  of 
special  patterns  we  are  enabled  to  construct  the  pipe 
system  in  a  more  perfect  and  pleasing  manner. 

The  construction  of  the  pressure-tank  with  baffle 
plates,  which  we  use  on  all  our  larger  machines,  has 
made  the  separation  of  the  oil  so  perfect  that  only  traces 
of  it  are  carried  over  into  the  separating-tank. 

As  in  our  former  editions,  we  propose  to  submit  to 
the  public  a  concise  and  clear  presentation  of  the  dif- 
ferent processes  followed  in  artificial  refrigeration,  of  the 


IN  TROD  UCTION.  v  1 1 


difficulties  hitherto  encountered  in  making  these  proc. 
esses  successful,  and  of  the  means  we  have  employed 
to  overcome  these  difficulties,  to  aid  the  intending  pur- 
chaser of  refrigerating  machinery  in  arriving  at  a  just 
and  fair  conception  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  the  various  systems  now  in  the  market. 

It  may  be  more  satisfactory  to  those  unfamiliar  with 
the  subject  if  we  first  submit  a  brief  statement  of  the 
principles  and  processes  involved  in  cold-producing  ma- 
chines. 

The  processes  are  exceedingly  simple,  and  substan- 
tially consist  of  a  cycle,  or  round,  of  three  operations, 
following  each  other  in  rotation,  and  which  are  practi- 
cally the  same  in  almost  all  the  refrigerating  machines 
now  in  use. 

THE  DE  LA  VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  Co. 
NEW  YORK,  January,  1890. 


THEORY  OF  MECHANICAL  REFRIGERATION, 


HAVING  first  selected  the  refrigerating  or  heat- 
absorbing  agent  to  be  used,  such  as  ammonia,  ether, 
sulphurous  oxide,  etc.,  this  agent  is  charged  into  the 
machine,  and  afterward  passed  through  the  round  of 
the  three  operations  just  alluded  to,  which  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

1 .  Compression. 

The  agent  in  gaseous  form  is  compressed  to  a  press- 
ure, varying  in  the  case  of  ammonia  from  125  to  175  Ibs. 
per  square  inch,  and  depending  upon  the  temperature 
of  the  condensing  water  used,  either  mechanically  or 
otherwise,  in  order  to  prepare  it  for  the  second  opera- 
tion. During  the  compression,  heat  is  developed  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  pressure  exerted  upon  the 
gas,  or  to  the  relative  volume  to  which  it  has  been  re- 
duced. Expressed  popularly,  heat  is  squeezed  out  of 
the  gas,  and  can  then  be  carried  away  by  the  conden- 
sing water. 

2 .  Condensation . 

The  heat  developed  in  the  above  operation  is  with- 
drawn from  the  compressed  gas  by  forcing  it  through 
coils  of  pipe  while  said  coils  are  in  contact  with  cold 


IO         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

water  ;  the  heat  being  transferred  to  the  water  surround- 
ing the  coils.  When  this  point  is  reached  the  gas  is 
ready  to  assume  the  liquid  condition,  and  in  so  doing- 
it  gives  off  additional  heat  to  the  surrounding  water,  as 
explained  more  fully  hereafter. 
3.  Expansion. 

The  liquefied  gas  thus  obtained  is  allowed  to  enter 
coils  of  pipe  so  placed  that  the  substance  to  be  cooled 
(air,  water,  brine,  beer,  etc.)  can  be  brought  into  con- 
tact with  them,  the  pressure  in  the  interior  of  these  coils 
being  maintained  at  a  lower  point  than  that  required  for 
retaining  the  gas  in  the  liquid  state.  The  liquefied  gas, 
upon  entering  said  coils,  re-expands,  and  extracts  from 
the  pipes  and  the  substances  surrounding  the  pipes  the 
same  quantity  of  heat  that  was  previously  given  up  by 
the  gas  to  the  water  used  during  the  period  of  conden- 
sation and  liquefaction.  The  gas  having  performed  in 
this  last  operation  its  refrigerating  work,  is  now  ready 
to  repeat  the  same  cycle  of  operations. 

Modifications  of  the  above,  and  several  auxiliary 
processes,  have  been  introduced  in  the  various  machines 
of  different  inventors;  still  the  general  principles  remain 
the  same,  the  round  of  operations  above  cited  being 
essential  to  form  a  complete  cycle. 

From  the  above,  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  a 
refrigerating  machine  consists  of  three  series  of  parts, 
each  corresponding  to  one  of  the  above  operations : 

i st.  A  compression  side,  in  which  the  gas  is  com- 
pressed, either  mechanically  or  otherwise,  as  will  be 
more  fully  explained  in  describing  absorption-machines. 


THE  OR  Y  OF  MECHANICAL  REFRIGERA  7VOJV.  I  I 

2d.  A  condensing  side,  generally  consisting  of  coils  of 
pipe,  in  which  the  compressed  'gas  circulates,  parts  with 
its  heat,  and  liquefies;  and 

3d.  An  expansion  side,  consisting  also  of  coils  of  pipe, 
in  which  the  gas  re-expands  and  performs  the  refrigerat- 
ing work. 

In  orde-r  to  render  the  operation  continuous,  these 
three  sides  or  parts  are  connected  together,  the  gas  pass- 
ing through  them  in  the  order  named. 

The  gas  is  drawn  through  the  expansion  coils  by  the 
pumps  at  a  pressure  varying  from  10  to  30  pounds  above 
that  of  the  atmosphere,  where  ammonia  is  in  use,  and  is 
then  forced  into  the  condensers,  w-here  a  pressure  of  125 
to  175  pounds  per  square  inch  usually  exists;  here  lique- 
faction takes  place,  and  the  resulting  liquefied  gas  is 
allowed  to  flow  to  a  stop-cock  having  a  minute  opening, 
which  separates  the  compression  from  the  expansion  side 
of  the  plant. 

The  expansion  side  consists  of  coils  of  pipe  similar  to 
those  of  the  condensing  side,  but  used  for  the  reverse 
operation,  which  is  the  absorption  of  heat  by  the  lique- 
fied gas  instead  of  the  expulsion  of  heat  from  it,  as  in 
the  former  operation. 

Heat  is  conducted  through  the  expansion  or  cooling 
coils  to,  and  is  absorbed  by,  the  expanding  liquefied  gas 
within  such  coils,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  connected 
to  the  suction  or  low-pressure  side  of  the  apparatus  from 
which  the  pumps  are  continually  drawing  the  gas  and 
thereby  reducing  the  pressure  in  said  coils,  as  already 
stated,  to  a  pressure  of  10  or  30  pounds  above  the  atmos- 


I  2          THE  DE  LA    VEXGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

phere;  it  being  kept  in  mind  that  liquefied  ammonia  in 
again  assuming  a  gaseous  condition,  at  atmospheric 
pressure  and  a  temperature  of  60°  Fahr.,  expands  a  thou- 
sand times  and  has  the  power  or  capacity  of  reabsorbing, 
upon  its  expansion,  a  quantity  of  heat  equal  in  amount 
to  that  originally  held  and  discharged  from  it  during 
liquefaction.  The  liquefied  gas  entering  these  coils 
through  the  minute  opening  of  the  stop-cock  above  re- 
ferred to  is  suddenly  relieved  of  a  pressure  of  125  to  175 
pounds,  the  amount  requisite  to  maintain  it  in  a  liquid 
condition,  when  it  begins  to  boil,  and  in  so  doing  passes 
into  the  gaseous  state.  To  do  this  it  must  have  heat, 
which  can  be  supplied  only  from  the  substances  surround- 
ing the  pipes,  such  as  air,  brine,  water,  wort,  etc.  As  a 
natural  result  the  surrounding  substances  are  reduced  in 
temperature,  or  cooled;  the  quantity  of  heat  taken  up  by 
the  gas  being  the  same  as  that  wrhich  was  expelled  from 
it  during  its  liquefaction  in  the  condensers.  It  is  ap- 
parent, from  the  foregoing,  that  if  the  expansion  coils 
are  placed  in  an  insulated  room,  that  room  will  be  re- 
frigerated; also,  if  brine  or  wort  is  brought  in  contact 
with  the  surface  of  the  coils,  they  also  will  be  reduced 
in  temperature;  and  that  brine  so  cooled  can  be  used  to 
refrigerate  an  insulated  room  by  simply  forcing  it  to  cir- 
culate through  pipes  or  gutters  suspended  in  the  same. 

Either  of  the  above  methods  can  be  applied  to  the 
refrigeration  of  breweries,  packing-houses,  etc.,  and  for 
the  manufacture  of  ice,  the  same  gas  being  used  over 
and  over  again  to  perform  the  same  cycle  of  operations. 

As  said  before,  various  modifications  of  the  above, 


THEOR  Y  OF  MECHANICAL  REFRIGERA  TION.  \  * 

«_> 

as  well  as  auxiliary  processes,  have  been  introduced  by 
patentees  and  builders  in  their  several  machines;  but  the 
principles  already  described  are  the  same  in  all,  the  dif- 
ference being  in  their  application. 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  AND  REFRIGERATING 
AGENTS  EMPLOYED, 


As  far  back  as  the  year  1550  Blasius  Villafranca,  a 
Roman  physician,  produced  an  artificial  reduction  of 
temperature  by  dissolving  saltpetre  in  water;  and  in 
1607  the  first  "  frigorific  mixture"  wras  discovered  by 
Latinus  Tancredus,  who,  by  combining  snow  with  salt- 
petre, produced  very  low  temperatures.  A  well-known 
frigorific  mixture  is  used  the  world  over  to-day  in  the 
manufacture  of  ice-cream,  viz.y  pounded  ice  and  com- 
mon salt,  which  produces  a  temperature  of  ten  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  Other  mixtures  were  later  on  discovered, 
some  of  them  using  ice  or  snow  as  an  auxiliary,  others 
using  merely  a  combination  of  chemicals,  such  as  sul- 
phuric acid,  muriatic  acid,  chloride  of  sodium  (common 
salt),  chloride  of  calcium,  nitrate  of  ammonia,  etc. 

In  1824  Vallance  patented  an  ice-machine,  in  which 
a  current  of  dry  rarefied  air  was  circulated  over  shallow 
pans  containing  water.  The  air  absorbed  the  vapors  of 
the  water,  and  the  heat  necessary  to  produce  these  va- 
pors was  taken  from  the  main  body  of  the  water  and 
froze  it.  The  air  thus  laden  with  moisture  was  passed 


14          1HE  £>E  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

over  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  which  absorbed  the 
watery  vapors  and  made  the  air  fit  again  for  taking  up 
new  vapors  from  the  water  to  be  frozen.  Thus  a  con- 
tinuous process  was  established. 

In  1834  Perkins  constructed  a  machine  in  which  cold 
was  produced  by  the  evaporation  of  ether  The  ether 
was  vaporized  in  a  cylindrical  vessel  containing  tubes 
by  reducing  the  pressure  on  it  through  the  sucking  ac- 
tion of  a  pump,  which  on  its  return  stroke  compressed 
the  ether  into  another  vessel,  cooled  by  water,  thus  re- 
storing the  ether  and  making  it  fit  to  be  used  over 
again.  Here  the  compression  system  makes  its  first  ap- 
pearance. 

But  it  was  not  till  the  year  1855  that  results  were  pro- 
duced which  could  be  called  practical.  Prof.  Twining, 
of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  had  been  experimenting 
with  sulphuric  ether  between  the  years  1848  and  1850, 
and  obtained  his  first  patent  in  England  in  1850.  The 
American  patent  was  issued  to  him  in  1853,  and  in  1855 
he  operated  a  machine  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  which  was 
intended  to  produce  2,000  pounds  of  ice  in  24  hours.  It 
did  actually  produce  over  i, 600 pounds  under  disadvan- 
tages, and  was  operated,  off  and  on,  from  1855  to  1857. 
In  this  machine  the  "compression"  system  of  to-day  is 
completely  represented,  and  Twining  deserves  the  credit 
of  not  only  being  the  inventor  of  this  system,  but  of  also 
having  carried  it  out  in  practice.  Yet  the  inflammability 
of  ether;  the  high  vacuum,  which  had  to  be  carried  on 
the  evaporation  side  of  the  pump,  and  which  allowed 
air  to  enter  into  the  apparatus;  the  difficulty  of  proper 


S  YS  7  'EMS  A  ND  REFRIGERA  TING  A  GEN  TS  EM  PL  O  YED .        I  5 

lubrication — all  presented  great  obstacles  against  the 
reliable  and  permanent  operation  of  the  machine;  so 
that  inventors  turned  their  attention  to  other  substances 
better  adapted  to  the  purpose,  among  which  we  may 
mention  Ammonia,  Sulphurous  Oxide,  Carbonic  Acid, 
Methylic  Ether,  Nitrous  Oxide,  Methylamine  and 
Chymogene. 

To  discuss  the  relative  advantages  and  objectionable 
features  of  these  various  substances  would  occupy  a  great 
deal  of  space  and  be  of  little  interest  to  the  general 
reader;  suffice  it  to  say  that  "Anhydrous  Ammonia,"  or 
ammoniacal  gas  entirely  deprived  of  moisture,  answers 
the  purposes  of  artificial  refrigeration  better  than  any 
other  known  substance.  Its  boiling-point — 27°  Fahren- 
heit  below  zero  at  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere — • 
ensures  low  temperatures  without  resorting  to  very  low 
pressures  on  the  evaporation  or  expansion  side  of  the 
machine,  and  thereby  large  pumps  are  avoided,  the  gas 
still  producing  sufficiently  low  temperatures  at  a  boiling 
pressure  of  15  to  25  pounds  per  square  inch.  At  this 
pressure  the  gas  weighs  more  per  cubic  foot  than  at  a 
lower  pressure,  and  one  charge  of  a  given  pump  will 
produce  more  cold  than  if  the  gas  were  taken  in  at  a 
lower  pressure,  since  it  is  weight  of  gas  circulated,  and 
not  volume, which  gives  us  a  standard  of  cold-production. 

The  latent  heat  of  ammonia  is  higher  than  that  of 
any  other  known  agent  hitherto  used  for  the  production 
of  cold,  and  a  smaller  quantity  is  therefore  needed  to 
produce  a  certain  cooling  effect.  Its  great  stability,  its 
non-inflammability  and  non-explosiveness,  allow  it  to  be 


I  6          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

used  in  any  kind  of  machine  for  a  great  length  of  time; 
and  while  it  attacks  copper  and  brass,  it  has  not,  even  if 
mixed  with  water,  the  slightest  effect  upon  iron  or  steel, 
so  that  the  machinery  and  piping,  which  convey  and 
circulate  it,  are  never  in  the  least  degree  corroded. 

It  seems  in  the  highest  degree  natural,  therefore,  that 
after  many  years  of  experience  and  investigation  by 
scientific  men  it  should  have  attained  the  position  in 
mechanical  refrigeration  which  it  occupies  now,  that  of 
being  the  agent  par  excellence  for  purposes  of  cooling. 


TWINING  S  COMPRESSION  MACHINE. 


To  return,  however,  to  the  early  days  of  Twining. 
This  original  and  advanced  scientist  discovered,  during 
his  experiments  with  ether  from  1848  to  1850,  that  one 
pound  of  ether,  by  its  evaporation,  was  adequate  to  pro- 
duce 1.2  pounds  of  ice  from  water  of  32°  Fahr.,  besides 
cooling  down  the  ether  28°.  In  his  Cleveland  machine 
he  had  a  double-acting  vacuum  and  compression  pump 
of  8^  inches  diameter  and  18  inches  stroke,  making  90 
revolutions  per  minute.  He  compressed  the  vapors  into 
a  tubular  condenser  or  "  restorer,"  in  which,  under  the 
cooling  action  of  water,  the  ether  was  liquefied.  From 
the  restorer  the  liquid  entered  a  "cistern"  through  a 
pipe  and  cock,  to  be  there  re-evaporated  through  the 
sucking  action  of  the  pump,  thus  cooling  the  cistern  to 
below  the  freezing-point  of  water.  The  cistern  was  so 
constructed  that  it  formed  a  system  of  cells  open  at  the 


T  WINING  '  S  COMPRESSION  MA  CHINE. 


top,  into  which  iron  moulds  were  placed,  also  open  at 
the  top,  and  surrounded  by  a  non-congealable  liquid,  so 
that  water  contained  in  the  moulds  was  frozen  from  the 
outside.  After  all  the  water  w7as  frozen  solid,  the  mould 
was  lifted  from  its  cell  and  the  ice  block  melted  out. 
This  is  exactly  what  we  do  to-day.  Twining-  also  found 
that  at  a  comparatively  high  temperature  the  ice  would 
be  perfectly  transparent  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
porous  core,  but  that  with  low  temperatures  it  would  be 
opaque.  In  carrying  on  the  process  of  cooling  after  all 
the  ice  had  been  formed,  he  obtained  a  final  tempera- 
ture of  26°  Fahr.  below  zero  with  an  absolute  evaporat- 
ing pressure  of  2.7  inches  of  mercury. 


GORRIE  S  COMPRESSED-AIR  MACHINE. 


IN  1850  Dr.  John  Gorrie,  of  New  Orleans,  at  the  in- 
stance of  some  capitalists,  conducted  a  series  of  experi- 
ments, the  object  of  which  was  the  generation  of  cold 
by  the  expansion  of  atmospheric  air.  It  was  known 
that  air  was  heated  during  compression,  and  that  it 
would  cool  down  again  during  expansion;  and  since 
this  heating  amounted  to  many  hundred  degrees  dur- 
ing compression  up  to  four  or  five  atmospheres,  the  in- 
ference was  that  the  cooling  effect  would  be  the  same 
if  the  compressed  air  were  allowed  to  expand  after  it 
had  cooled  down  to  the  surrounding  temperature  of  the 
atmosphere,  or  after  it  had  been  cooled  down  by  water. 
At  that  time,  however,  the  laws  of  thermo-dynamics 


1 8          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

were  not  yet  thoroughly  understood,  and  although  Dr. 
I.  R.  Mayer,  of  Heilbronn,  had  as  far  back  as  1842  pro- 
nounced the  fundamental  law  of  this  branch  of  science, 
that  heat  and  mechanical  duty  are  equivalent,  and  that 
the  one  could  be  converted  into  the  other,*  yet  the 
whole  problem  was  not  sufficiently  developed.  While 
Gorrie's  experiments  at  that  time  had  a  certain  practical 
value,  the  discoveries  of  the  twenty  years  following  de- 
prived them  of  much  scientific  worth. 

The  fact,  however,  that  cold  could  be  produced  with- 
out any  chemicals,  simply  by  the  compression  of  the  air 
that  surrounds  us  everywhere,  offered  such  a  strong 
temptation  to  inventors  that  the  subject  was  afterward 
taken  up  again  by  Giffard,  of  France,  Windhausen,  of 
Germany,  Bell-Coleman,  Haslam,  and  Lightfoot,  of 
England,  and  Allen,  of  the  United  States.  The  laws 
and  formulae  of  the  mechanical  theory  of  heat  had  prov- 
ed that,  even  under  the  most  favorable  assumptions, 
the  power  necessary  for  the  compression  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  air  in  order  to  produce  a  certain  amount  of 
cold  was  far  in  excess  of  that  which  was  needed  if  a 
liquefiable  gas  or  a  volatile  liquid  was  used  for  the  same 
purpose. 

To  establish  a  basis  for  the  measurements  of  heat, 
physicists  have  long  ago  agreed  to  call  the  quantity  of 
heat  which  is  necessary  to  heat  one  pound  of  water  one 
degree  Fahr.  a  ''unit  of  heat"  or  "thermal  unit."  Thus, 
to  heat  one  pound  of  water  50°-  requires  50  thermal  units, 
or  to  heat  10  pounds  of  water  20°  requires  10  x  20=200 

*  "  Annalen  von  Woehler  und  Liebig,"  May,  1842. 


GORRIES  COMPRESSED-AIR  MACHINE. 


units.  All  bodies,  however,  do  not  require  the  same 
amount  of  heat  per  pound  in  order  to  raise  their  tem- 
perature i°.  For  instance,  to  heat  one  pound  of  iron  i° 
requires  only  y1^  heat  units  ;  one  pound  of  lead,  only 
T|-Q  ;  one  pound  of  olive  oil,  /Q-;  one  pound  of  ice,  T5¥,  etc. 
This  peculiar  quality  of  different  bodies  needing  differ- 
ent quantities  of  heat  to  raise  one  pound  of  them  IQ  in 
temperature  is  called  their  "  capacity  for  heat,'7  or  their 
"  specific  heat."  In  examining  air,  Regnault  has  found 
that  its  specific  heat  is  only  about  \-  (0.238).  One  cubic 
foot  of  air  weighs  at  atmospheric  pressure  about  -^ 
pound,  and  so  it  is  apparent  that  it  requires  only  one 
thermal  unit  to  heat  13x4  =52  cubic  feet  of  air  IQ  Fahr. 
Water  weighs  63  pounds  per  cubic  foot,  and  it  needs  63 
units  to  heat  one  cubic  foot  of  water  i°  Fahr.  If  we, 
therefore,  compare  air  and  water  we  find  that  it  takes 
only  the  y^ier  ^STTG  Par^  °f  heat  to  raise  one  cubic 
foot  of  air  i°  that  it  takes  to  accomplish  this  with  one 
cubic  foot  of  water.  It  would  lead  us  too  far  into  sci- 
entific considerations  if  we  attempted  to  follow  this 
matter  any  further  ;  but  so  much  will  appear,  that  the 
capacity  of  air  for  heat  is  extremely  small.  The  neces- 
sary consequence  is,  that  to  utilize  this  body  for  the 
generation  of  cold  enormous  quantities  of  it  have  to  be 
handled.  The  compressing-pumps  of  air  machines  are 
very  large,  the  friction  to  operate  them  is  great,  and  the 
loss  by  leakage  around  the  piston  becomes  considerable 
in  the  course  of  time. 

Apart  from  these  facts,  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the 
economical  use  of  air  for  cooling  purposes  is  the  circum- 


2O         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

stance  that  air  is  a  permanent  gas,  i.  e.,  it  cannot  be 
liquefied  ;  at  least,  not  under  moderate  pressures  and 
temperatures  such  as  we  are  compelled  to  deal  with  in 
the  mechanical  arts.  If  we  compress  air,  we  heat  it  to 
say  400  or  500°,  and  if  we  then  cool  it  down  to  80°  this 
difference  in  temperature  represents  all  the  heat  that  we 
can  take  out  of  it  so  as  to  enable  it  to  absorb  heat  again 
during  its  re-expansion.  If,  however,  we  compress  a 
liquefiable  gas,  such  as  ammonia,  we  likewise  heat  it  ; 
but  in  cooling  it  down  to  its  temperature  of  liquefaction 
it  does  not  retain  its  gaseous  condition,  but  becomes  a 
liquid.  In  doing  so,  it  parts  with  a  great  amount  of 
heat  which  was  necessary  to  maintain  it  as  a  gas.  We 
are  thus  enabled  to  carry  away  much  more  heat  with 
the  cooling  water,  which  all  refrigerating  machines 
require,  which  heat  must  be  taken  up  again  when  the 
liquefied  gas  re-expands.  One  pound  of  ammonia,  in 
thus  liquefying,  will  part  with  about  560  thermal  units, 
which  will  be  reabsorbed  when  it  re-enters  the  condition 
of  a  gas.  This  heat  is  called  "  latent  heat,"  because  it 
cannot  be  discovered  by  the  thermometer. 

We  have  mentioned  before  that  the  specific  heat  of 
all  bodies  is  not  the  same,  and  such  is  also  the  case  with 
all  bodies  in  relation  to  their  latent  heat.  To  be  well 
adapted  for  purposes  of  refrigeration,  the  agent  employ- 
ed should  have  a  high  degree  of  latent  heat,  so  that 
small  quantities  of  it  only  are  needed  to  produce  a 
certain  effect.  If  we  now  reflect  on  the  reasons  stated 
in  connection  with  the  question  just  discussed  in  its 
bearing  on  refrigerating  machines  using  air,  we  will 


GORRIE'S  COMPRESSED-AIR  MACHINE.  21 


more    fully    understand    why   such    large    pumps    are 
needed. 

In  1851  Gorrie,  however,  obtained  a  patent  on  an  air 
machine  in  the  United  States,  and  it  contained  valuable 
points,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  internal  cooling  of  the 
compressor  by  the  injection  of  cold  water.  In  the  face 
of  the  progress  made  during  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years 
in  the  compression  of  liquefiable  gases,  the  air  machines 
have  been  compelled  to  retire  to  the  background  in  the 
art  of  mechanical  refrigeration.  Their  only  use,  it  may 
be  asserted,  is  on  shipboard  for  the  purpose  of  transpor- 
tation of  perishable  food.  Here  machines  of  compara- 
tively small  capacities  only  are  needed,  and  the  large 
coal  consumption — it  is  from  eight  to  ten  times  that  of 
good  ammonia-compression  machines — does  not  play 
so  important  a  part  as  on  land,  where  machines  of  such 
large  sizes  are  now  employed  that  their  coal  consump- 
tion would  be  fifty  tons  a  day  if  worked  on  the  com- 
pressed air  principle,  while  our  machines  of  the  same 
size  actually  use  only  five  to  six  tons.  Nevertheless, 
ammonia  machines  are  fast  replacing  the  air  machines, 
even  on  steamships,  on  account  of  their  perfected  con- 
struction and  their  economy  in  running. 


CARRE'S  ABSORPTION  MACHINE. 


DURING  a  number  of  years  no  notable  progress  was 
made  in  the  art  of  refrigeration,  and  no  new  ideas  were 
advanced.  In  1858,  however,  Ferdinand  Carre,  of  France, 


2  2          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

proposed  an  entirely  new  and  original  plan  of  liquefy- 
ing ammonia,  using  therefor  the  aqueous  solution  of 
this  gas,  25  parts  of  ammonia  in  75  parts  of  water. 

By  his  system,  which  is  called  the  "  absorption  sys- 
tem," in  consequence  of  the  terminal  operation,  the 
aqueous  solution  of  ammonia  is  heated  in  a  boiler  or 
still,  until  the  ammonia  is  driven  off  in  the  form  of  a 
gas  mixed  with  aqueous  vapor  (steam),  the  proportions 
being  about  90  per  cent,  of  ammonia  gas  and  10  per 
cent,  of  aqueous  vapor;  the  resulting  vapor  is  then  car- 
ried through  the  three  operations  of  the  cycle  already 
described. 

1.  The  gas  is  compressed   by  the  pressure  resulting 
from  its  distillation. 

2.  It  is  cooled  and  liquefied  in  a  coil   of   pipe    sur^ 
rounded  by  cold  water. 

3.  It  is  allowed  to  re-expand   to  a  gaseous  state   in 
coils  surrounded   by  the  substance  to  be  cooled,  in  the 
same  manner  as   heretofore  described    on    pages   9,  10 
and  ir.  The  resulting  gas,  having  done  its  work  of  refrig- 
eration, is  then  led   from  these  coils  through  a  pipe   to 
another  coil  of  pipe,  and   from  this  coil  to  still   another 
coil  called  the  absorber,  placed  outside  of  the  room  or 
substance  cooled. 

In  this  coil  (the  absorber)  the  gas  is  brought  in  direct 
contact  with  the  water  (mother  liquid),  from  which  it  was 
originally  expelled  by  heating;  said  water  having  in  the 
meantime  been  moved  or  circulated  out  of  the  still  above 
referred  to,  through  coils  of  pipe  over  which  cold  water 
is  constantly  running.  From  these  coils  of  pipe  it  passes 


CARRE'S  ABSORPTION  MACHINE. 


on  to  the  before-mentioned  absorber,  over  which  water 
is  also  constantly  running-.  The  water  (mother  liquid) 
having  thus  been  cooled,  rapidly  absorbs  the  gas,  form- 
ing ag-ain  a  strong  solution  of  ammonia.  This  solution 
being  returned  to  the  boiler  by  means  of  a  pump  enables 
the  g-as  to  go  through  the  same  cycle  of  operations. 
The  machinery  required  to  perform  these  operations  is 
exceedingly  simple,  and  comparatively  cheap  in  con- 
struction; but  it  is  very  wasteful  of  coal  and  cooling 
water,  and  its  efficiency  is  greatly  diminished  by  the 
steam  generated  with  the  g-as  in  the  boiler  or  still.  The 
coal  consumed  in  generating  this  steam  is  worse  than 
wasted;  the  steam  condenses  with  the  gas  in  the  con- 
densing coils  and  passes  to  the  expanding-  coils,  where  it 
accumulates  in  considerable  quantity  and  retains  a  large 
percentage  of  the  gas  in  solution. 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  water  at  a  tem- 
perature of  60  degrees  Fahrenheit  will  absorb  more 
than  700  times  its  volume  of  ammoniacal  g-as  at  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  it  must  be  perfectly  evident 
that  the  existence  of  this  water  in  the  expansion  coils  is 
a  serious  drawback,  independent  of  the  cost  of  fuel  lost 
in  placing  it  there,  as  it  absorbs  and  renders  inoperative 
large  quantities  of  the  gas,  which  have  been  g-enerated 
or  driven  out  from  the  mother  liquid  at  no  inconsider- 
able cost  in  fuel.  There  is  a  constant  accumulation  of 
such  water,  and  to  such  an  extent,  in  many  of  the  ma- 
chines on  the  market,  that  their  action  is  intermittent, 
and  it  frequently  becomes  necessary  to  stop  running,  re- 
verse their  action,  and,  by  pressure,  blow  the  accumu- 


24         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

lated  water  into  the  absorber;  this  is  a  very  objection- 
able feature  in  the  system,  to  say  nothing  of  the  cost  of 
pumping  the  excessive  supply  of  water  used  for  cooling, 
and  in  many  places  the  additional  cost  of  procuring  this 
extra  supply. 

Another  evil  attending  this  system  is  that  a  large 
amount  of  the  heat  expended  in  vaporizing  the  ammonia 
in  the  boiler  is  lost,  because  of  the  necessity  of  cooling 
the  boiled  liquor  before  it  can  be  used  in  the  absorber, 
and  a  large  proportion  of  the  excess  of  water  employed 
in  this  system  is  used  for  cooling  this  boiled  liquor  before 
and  during  absorption.  Both  theoretically  and  practi- 
cally about  60  per  cent,  more  fuel  is  required  to  expel 
the  ammonia  from  its  aqueous  solution,  to  compress  and 
liquefy  it,  and  to  return  it  reabsorbed  in  the  boiled  liquor 
to  the  boiler,  than  is  found  necessary  in  the  mechanical 
compression  of  the  anhydrous  gas. 

Not  only  do  absorption  machines  consume  much  more 
fuel,  but  they  require  from  two  and  one-half  to  three  times 
as  much  cooling  water  as  the  compression  machines.  A 
number  of  delicate  adjustments  are  required  in  order  to 
regulate  the  various  operations,  such  as  the  rate  of  boil- 
ing in  the  stills,  the  flowT  of  weak  boiled  liquor  to  re- 
absorb  the  evaporated  gas,  etc. 

These  adjustments  have  to  be  altered  to  meet  the 
varying  requirements  of  the  establishment  being  refrig- 
erated, and  are  apt  to  give  great  trouble.  Such  machines 
work  very  irregularly,  and  usually  fail  when  most 
wanted,  thus  entailing  heavy  loss  and  disappointment 
on  their  owners. 


CA  RRE:  s  A  BSORP  TION  MA  CHINE.  2  5 


It  must  be  admitted  that  Carre's  machine  proved  its 
inventor  to  be  a  man  of  great  originality  of  thought;  and 
the  seeming  simplicity  of  the  apparatus,  as,  for  example, 
the  absence  of  a  steam-engine  and  compressors,  was  a 
feature  which  in  the  beginning  recommended  it  very 
strongly  to  users  of  cold  and  ice.  The  before-mentioned 
defects,  however,  soon  made  themselves  felt,  and  in 
spite  of  the  great  efforts  exerted  to  overcome  them,  in- 
ventors and  engineers  have,  up  to  this  day,  failed  to 
accomplish  what  to  all  appearances  seems  to  be  a  physi- 
cal impossibility. 


MECHANICAL  COMPRESSION. 


To  remedy  the  above  condition  of  affairs,  inventors 
turned  their  attention  again  to  the  mechanical  compres- 
sion of  anhydrous  gas,  which  is  accomplished  by  means 
of  powerful  vacuum  and  compression  pumps;  but  here 
such  varied  mechanical  difficulties  were  encountered  that 
many,  not  seeing  their  way  clear  to  overcome  them,  have 
hesitatingly  returned  to,  and  are  still  struggling  with, 
the  absorption  system.  The  mechanical  difficulties  en- 
countered in  pumping  a  gas  of  the  extreme  tenuity  of 
ammonia  may  be  stated  as  threefold  in  number,  and  are 
as  follows: 

i.    The  Imperfect  Discharge  of  the  Gas  from  the  Pump. 

This  it  was  found  impossible  to  overcome  until  we 
perfected  our  present  compressor.  As  a  clearance  must 


26          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

necessarily  be  left  between  the  piston  and  the  cylinder- 
head,  only  a  portion  of  the  compressed  gas  was  expelled 
at  each  stroke;  that  remaining"  re-expanded  w^ith  the  re- 
verse motion  of  the  piston,  produced  a  pressure  against 
the  incoming  charge  of  gas,  and  resulted  in  a  loss  of 
power  and  efficiency. 

2.  Leaky  Stuffing- Boxes,  Pistons,  and  Valves. 

In  ordinary  compressors  the  motion  of  the  piston 
and  rod,  at  each  alternate  stroke,  would  either  introduce 
air  into  the  pump,  providing  the  internal  pressure  was 
less  than  that  of  the  atmosphere,  or  draw  out  and  waste 
a  volume  of  the  refrigerating  gas,  and  it  was  impossible 
to  pack  a  pump  piston  and  gland  sufficiently  tight  to 
prevent  these  difficulties.  In  some  cases  where  the  at- 
tempt was  made,  the  power  required  to  overcome  the 
friction  of  the  stuffing-box  thus  tightened  was  found 
more  than  sufficient  to  do  the  entire  work  of  compres- 
sion. Again,  working  against  constant  pressures  of  125 
to  150  Ibs.  necessitated  the  use  of  a  tight  piston,  the 
least  wear  causing  considerable  leakage  of  gas  past  the 
piston  into  the  adjoining  pump  chamber.  Similar  diffi- 
culties were  also  encountered  with  the  valves,  causing 
the  gas  to  re-enter  the  pump  past  the  discharge-valves, 
or  to  be  returned  to  the  suction  side  past  its  correspond- 
ing valves.  It  will  be  well  to  mention  here  that,  to 
obviate  the  leaky  stuffing-box,  some  makers  have  re- 
sorted to  the  device  of  ejecting  a  stream  of  water 
against  the  piston-rod  and  stuffing  box,  ostensibly  to 
cool  the  rod,  but  in  reality  to  absorb  the  gas  leaking 


MECHANICAL  COMPRESSION. 


past  the  gland,  thus  rendering  a  great  source  of  loss  in- 
apparent,  which  loss,  in  connection  with  a  leaky  piston 
and  valves,  materially  reduces  the  efficiency  of  the 
pump. 

3.    The  Heat  of  Compression. 

The  mechanical  energy  which  the  compressor  piston 
exerts  upon  the  gas  is  converted  into  heat,  which  by  ex- 
panding a  tight  packing  of  the  piston  causes  friction; 
while  on  the  other  hand  a  loose  packing  of  the  piston, 
or  its  eventual  wear,  allows  the  gas  to  slip  past. 

The  heat  of  compression  expands  the  gas  during 
compression,  thereby  increasing  its  volume,  which 
necessitates  an  opening  of  the  discharge  valve  prior  to 
the  time  that  it  would  open  were  the  gas  cooled  during 
compression. 

The  work  spent  in  effecting  this  prior  discharge  of 
the  increased  volume  of  gas  is  work  lost. 

To  avoid  these  losses,  and  to  obtain  a  higher  effi- 
ciency in  compressors  other  than  ours,  the  device  is  re- 
sorted to  of  flooding  the  external  portion  of  the  cylin- 
der with  water,  and  also  of  circulating  a  stream  of 
water  through  the  piston  and  piston-rod  ;  but  in  such 
cases  the  thickness  of  metal  required  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  pumps  and  piston  is  so  great,  that  the  cool- 
ing effect  is  only  an  approach  to  that  which  would  ef- 
fectually prevent  such  losses.  In  fact,  this  cooling 
only  benefits  the  walls  of  the  compressor,  while  the 
gas  itself  is  practically  not  at  all  reduced  in  temper- 
ature. 


28          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

The  mechanical  difficulties  enumerated  and  describ- 
ed were  of  such  a  serious  nature  that,  until  we  perfected 
our  present  compressor,  gas  pumps  or  compressors  had 
attained  an  efficiency  of  only  50  to  70  per  cent,  of  their 
theoretical  duty.  They  wore  rapidly,  requiring  frequent 
reboring,  repacking,  and  repairs,  and  were  very  defect- 
ive, being  excessive  consumers  of  fuel,  and  losing  an 
enormous  quantity  of  expensive  gas;  and  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  to  make  them  too  expensive  to  be  practical,  even 
though  the  first  cost  of  the  apparatus  was  relatively  low 
in  price. 


OUR  PATENTED  SYSTEM. 


To  make  mechanical  refrigeration  a  success,  it  is  es- 
sential— ist,  to  discharge  the  entire  volume  of  the  gas 
entering  the  compressors;  2d,  to  prevent  all  leakage 
past  the  stuffing-box,  piston,  and  valves;  and  3d,  to  ex- 
tract the  heat  from  the  gas  during  compression.  All 
this  we  accomplish  by  a  simple  device,  one  for  injecting 
into  the  compressor,  at  each  stroke,  a  certain  quantity 
of  lubricating  liquid,  which  effectually  seals  the  stuffing- 
box,  piston,  and  valves,  fills  all  clearances,  and  takes  up 
the  heat  developed  during  compression. 


OUR  SINGLE-ACTING   COMPRESSOR. 


OUR  SINGLE-ACTING  COMPRESSOR, 


THE  compressor  is  erected  vertically,  and  the  cylin- 
der is  a  little  longer  than  the  stroke,  thus  providing  a 
chamber  at  the  lower  or  stuffing-box  end,  which  is  al- 
ways filled  with  the  lubricating  liquid,  thereby  com- 
pletely and  permanently  sealing  the  stuffing-box  or  pis- 
ton gland;  and  upon  the  downward  stroke  of  the  valved 
piston  more  lubricating  liquid  is  introduced  into  the 
chamber  by  a  plunger-pump  attached  to  the  cross-head, 
or  by  some  other  device,  which  liquid  is  forced  through 
the  valve,  and  covers  the  upper  surface  of  the  piston. 
On  the  reverse  or  upward  stroke,  the  gas  is  first  expel- 
led; the  lubricating  liquid  then  follows  and  fills  all 
clearances,  entirely  covering  the  discharge  valve,  and 
accomplishing  the  following  objects: 

1.  It  ensures  the  expulsion  of  the  entire  volume  of 
gas  taken  in  at  each  stroke  of  the  pump. 

2.  It  effectually  seals  the  suction  valve,  the  piston, 
the  stuffing-box,   the  piston-valve,   and    the  discharge 
valve — preventing  all  leakage. 

3.  It  obviates  the  necessity  of  packing  the  stuffing- 
box  tightly,  and  thoroughly  lubricates  the  piston  and 
piston-rod  at  every  portion  of  the  stroke,  thus  reducing 
the  friction  to  a  minimum. 


30         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

4.  It  takes  up  a  considerable  amount  of  the  heat  de- 
veloped in  the  gas  during  compression,  thereby  econo 
mizing  largely  the  power  required  for  compression. 

The  practical  result  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  lubri- 
cating liquid  resolves  itself  into  the  consumption  of  less 
fuel,  less  ammonia,  and  less  water  by  our  machines  than 
by  those  of  other  builders. 

The  following  plate  and  description  will  explain 
more  clearly  the  construction  of  our  single-acting  com- 
pressor: 


PLATE  4. — Sectional  View  of  Single-Acting  Compressor. 


OUR  SINGLE-ACTING  COMPRESSOR. 


Plate  4  is  a  vertical  compressor,  having  a  valved  pis- 
ton and  a  valved  diaphragm.  The  gas  enters  the  pump 
from  the  return  mains  through  the  large  opening  on  the 
left-hand  side  near  the  bottom  of  the  pump,  on  the  up 
stroke  of  the  piston.  On  the  return  stroke,  the  valve  in 
the  large  gas  inlet  closes,  and  the  gas  in  the  cylinder 
passes  to  the  upper  side  of  the  piston  through  the  valve 
in  the  piston,  which  opens  as  soon  as  the  valve  in  the  gas 
inlet  closes. 

The  lubricant  for  cooling  the  pump  and  sealing  its 
valves  and  piston-rod  is  injected  through  the  small 
aperture  at  the  bottom  and  left  side  of  the  pump  ditr- 
ing  the  return  stroke  of  the  piston;  therefore  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  cylinder  is  fully  charged  with  gas 
before  the  introduction  of  the  lubricant,  and  that  the 
lubricant  does  not  occupy  any  space  to  the  exclusion 
of  gas. 

As  the  piston  descends  it  becomes  submerged  in  the 
lubricant  collected  in  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  and  a 
small  quantity  of  it  passes  through  the  open  valve  to  the 
upper  side  of  the  piston,  and  effectually  seals  the  piston 
and  prevents  a  slippage  of  gas  past  it  during  the  act  of 
compression  or  during  its  upward  stroke. 

A  sufficient  body  of  the  lubricant  is  introduced  to  the 
upper  side  of  the  piston  to  enable  us  to  drive  out  all  the 
gas,  and,  with  it,  a  portion  of  the  lubricant  which  passes 
through  the  diaphragm  valve  and  which  seals  said  valve 
upon  the  return  of  the  piston. 

The  piston-rod  is  continually  liquid-sealed  by  the  re- 
maining lubricant  surrounding  it. 


32          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 


The  gas  is  discharged  through  the  outlet  on  the  left- 
hand  side  at  the  top  of  the  pump. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  piston  is  at  all  times 
thoroughly  lubricated,  and  the  valves  holding  the  gas  are 
sealed  under  a  pressure  greater  than  that  of  the  atmos- 
phere, giving  no  opportunity  for  wear  or  a  slippage  of 
gas  past  the  piston  or  through  the  stuffing-box,  conse- 
quently we  are  enabled  to  pump  a  greater  percentage  of 
gas  with  less  friction  and  less  cost  than  any  of  our  com- 
petitors. 


OUR  DOUBLE-ACTING  COMPRESSOR. 


FOR  a  number  of  years  we  have  been  experimenting 
to  solve  the  problem  of  constructing  a  double-acting 
compressor  which  would  handle  the  gas  in  cbnnection 
with  our  system  of  oil  circulation  as  well  on  the  up  and 
down  stroke  as  the  single-acting  compressor  does  on  the 
up  stroke.  It  is  apparent  that  a  double-acting  pump  is 
more  advantageous — providing  it  is  well  constructed— 
because  it  handles  double  the  amount  of  gas  with  every 
revolution  of  the  crank-shaft  that  a  single-acting  com- 
pressor does,  which  has  the  same  diameter  and  the  same 
stroke.  The  moving  parts,  such  as  cross-head,  piston, 
piston-rod,  and  connecting-rod  being  the  same  for  either 
a  single  or  a  double  acting  compressor,  t\\e  friction  will  be 
the  same  for  all  these  parts,  while  double  the  work  is  being 
effected.  To  overcome  friction  means  power  expended 


PLATE  5.  — Sectional  View  of  Double-Acting  Compressor. 


OUR  DOUBLE-ACTING  COMPRESSOR.  33, 

— -power  wasted — and  in  our  case,  viz.,  in  a  machine  with 
two  gas-compressors  it  means  a  saving  of  one  eighth  of 
the  whole  power  used  for  compressing  the  gas.  Another 
advantage  is  the  cheapening  of  the  machine  through  the 
fact  that  one  double-acting  compressor  will  do  the  work 
of  two  single-acting  ones  of  the  same  size. 

In  attempting  the  construction  of  a  double-acting 
compressor  the  oil-circulation  proved  a  serious  drawback 
to  the  proper  discharge  of  the  gas  on  the  lower  side  of 
the  piston,  and  still  we  could  and  would  not  give  it  up, 
because  this  would  have  meant  an  inferior  pump.  In 
the  ordinary  form  of  double-acting  compressors  the  dis- 
charge-valves at  the  lower  end  are  placed  either  on  the 
side  or  in  the  lower  head.  In  either  case  the  oil  is  dis- 
charged on  the  down  stroke  before  all  the  gas  has  left 
the  pump — and  this  is  wrong.  The  oil  must  be  dis- 
charged after  all  the  gas  is  gone,  because  otherwise  re- 
expansion  takes  place,  and  this  means  loss  of  efficiency 
of  the  pump.  We  have  avoided  this  difficulty  in  the 
following  manner  : 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  compressor,  Plate  5,  there  are 
two  discharge-valves  placed  on  the  side — one  above  the 
other.  On  the  down  stroke  either  of  the  valves  or  both 
may  open  until  the  piston  covers  the  upper  one,  when 
only  the  lower  one  is  open  to  the  condenser.  In  the 
further  course  of  the  piston  and  as  soon  as  the  lower 
valve  is  also  closed,  the  upper  one  is  in  communication 
with  an  annular  chamber  contained  in  the  piston.  This 
chamber  has  valves  in  its  bottom,  which  open  into  it  as 
soon  as  all  other  outlets  from  the  lower  side  of  the  pis- 


34          TH£  E>E  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

ton  are  closed  (they  open  a  little  harder  than  the  dis- 
charge-valves on  the  side),  and  now  the  gas  will  all  go 
out  through  the  piston;  and  after  the  gas  the  oil  wijl  fol- 
low, thus  permitting  no  gas  to  remain  on  the  lower  side 
after  the  completion  of  the  down  stroke.  It  will  be  seen 
that  in  this  manner  the  very  important  oil-system  of  our 
machine  is  retained,  and  that  the  lower  side  of  the 
pump  works  as  well  as  the  upper,  while  the  oil  effect- 
ually seals  the  stuffing-box  in  spite  of  the  higher  press- 
ure on  it  at  the  end  of  the  down  stroke. 

The  machines  with  this  style  of  compressor  have 
been=  in  operation,  some  of  them,  nearly  two  years,  have 
all  worked  to  our  utmost  satisfaction,  and  we  are  now 
recommending  them  as  superior  to  the  single-acting 
machines  on  account  of  the  saving  in  power  and  greater 
cheapness. 

A  patent  on  this  compressor  has  been  granted  to  Mr. 
Louis  Block,  the  chief-engineer  of  our  company. 


EXPLANATION  OF  DIAGRAMS. 

THE  diagram  represented  in  Fig.  2  was  taken  from 
one  of  our  14  x  28  gas  compressors  working  at  1 50  pounds 
direct  pressure,  27  pounds  back  pressure,  and  thirty-six 
revolutions  a  minute.  The  actual  power  indicated  by 
this  card  is  48  H.-P. 

The  horse-power  measured  to  the  adiabatic  curve 
equals  53.6  H.-P. 

The  horse-power  economized   in   using  the   sealing 


EXPLANA  TION  OF  DIA  GRAMS.  3  5 

and  lubricating  liquid  will  therefore  be  5.6  H.-P  for  each 
compressor.  The  number  of  compressors  to  each 
machine  being  two,  the  actual  power  saved  will  be  11.2 
H.-P.,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  compressor  99.6  per  cent, 
of  its  theoretical  efficiency. 

J 

The  line  a  represents  the  adiabatic  curve,  the  line  b 
the  isothermic  curve,  of  this  diagram. 

Figs.  3  and  4  were  taken  from  the  steam  cylinder 
actuating  the  14  x  28  compressors  at  the  time  Fig.  2  was 
taken.  The  steam  pressure  in  the  boiler  was  68  pounds. 
The  initial  pressure  on  card  shows  65  pounds.  The 
mean  effective  pressure  of  diagrams  equals  32.4  Ibs. 

The  horse-power  developed  was  63  H.-P. 

The  close  approach  of  the  expansion  line  of  these 
diagrams  to  the  theoretical  curve  shows  the  superior 
action  of  our  cut-off  valve,  and  its  corresponding  econo- 
my in  steam. 

The  diagram  shown  by  Fig.  5  was  taken  from  a 
compressor  not  using  the  cooling,  sealing,  and  lubricat- 
ing liquid,  and  working  with  a  direct  pressure  of  157 
Ibs.,  and  a  back  pressure  of  20  pounds. 

The  horse-power  indicated  by  card  is  equal  to 
44  H.-P. 

The  compression  curve  of  this  diagram  should  ap- 
proach the  adiabatic  curve  a,  but  it  actually  drops  close 
to  the  isothermic  curve  b,  showing  a  leakage  past  the 
piston  of  15.2  per  cent,  of  the  gas  being  compressed; 
and  a  loss  of  7.4  per  cent.,  as  show^n  by  the  curved  line  c, 
caused  by  the  re-expansion  of  the  gas  filling  the  clear- 
ance between  the  piston  and  compressor  head.  The 


2 6          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

total  loss,  therefore,  by  not  injecting  the   cooling-  and 
sealing  liquid  would  represent  22.6  per  cent. 

The  efficiency  of  the  compressor  in  this  instance 
would  represent  but  77  per  cent,  of  the  efficiency  shown 
in  Fig.  2,  as  a  result  of  not  using  the  sealing  and  lubri- 
cating liquid. 

The  diagram,  Fig.  6,  was  taken  from  a  12  x  24  com- 
pressor for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  efficiency  of  the 
sealing  and  lubricating  liquid  working  between  extreme 
limits  of  pressure.  The  direct  pressure  in  this  case  was 
194  Ibs.;  the  back  pressure  9  Ibs.  The  actual  horse- 
power indicated  by  card  equals  30  H.-P. 

The  horse-power  measured  to  adiabatic  curve  equals 
36.5  H.-P.  The  power  economized  by  each  compressor 
equals  6.5  H.-P. 

The  efficiency  of  the  compressor  in  ejecting  the  en- 
tire volume  of  gas  taken  in  at  the  suction  side  is  clearly 
represented  in  the  straight  line  c,  which  shows  an  effi- 
ciency of  almost  100  per  cent. 

Figs.  7  and  8  were  taken  from  the  18  x  24  steam 
cylinder  actuating  the  above  compressors,  and  show 
the  amount  of  power  required  to  do  the  work  shown  in 
,Fig.  6.  The  steam  pressure  in  boiler  was  72  Ibs.;  the 
initial  pressure  of  card,  68  pounds;  the  mean  effective 
pressure,  32.55;  the  actual  power  required,  42  H.-P. 

Fig.  9  shows  diagram  taken  from  a  12  x  24  com- 
pressor during  actual  work.  The  direct  pressure,  in  this 
case,  equals  127  Ibs.;  the  back  pressure,  14  pounds;  the 
actual  power  indicated  by  card,  27  H.-P.;  the  power 
measured  to  adiabatic  curve,  31.7  H.-P.;  the  power  econ- 


EXPLANA  TION  OF  DIAGRAMS. 


37 


omized  with  sealing  and  lubricating-  liquid  equals  4.7 
H.-P.  for  each  compressor,  making  a  total  of  9.4  H.-P 
for  both  compressors. 

The  efficiency  in  pumping  gas  is  99.4  per  cent. 

By  these  means  we  have  been  enabled  to  obtain  an 
efficiency  from  our  pumps  equal  to  98  or  99  per  cent,  of 
their  theoretical  duty,  as  the  adjoining  plates  of  indica- 
tor diagrams  will  show. 

We  particularly  invite  the  owners  and  operators  of 
gas  compressors  differing  from  our  own  to  have  indica- 
tor-diagrams taken  from  theirs,  and  to  compare  the 
cards  with  ours.  To  those  who  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  such  diagrams,  they  will  at  once  indicate  the 
superiority  of  our  system  of  using  a  lubricating  liquid, 
as  the  gain  in  power  can  be  easily  traced. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  unfamiliar  with  indicator 
diagrams,  we  will  state  hereafter  the  economical  results 
accomplished  by  machines  erected  by  us,  as  compared 
with  those  of  other  builders. 

In  addition  to  the  advantages  already  cited,  we  find 
that  the  continuous  lubrication  as  applied  in  our  ma- 
chines materially  reduces  wear,  so  much  so  that  but  few 
repairs  are  necessary. 

After  ten  years'  use  our  cylinders  are  still  in  good 
condition  and  do  not  require  reboring,  whereas  it  is  not 
an  unusual  thing  with  other  builders  to  have  theirs  re- 
bored  after  one  or  two  seasons'  use,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  we  have  found  the  wear  upon  ours  so  slight  as  not 
even  to  have  effaced  the  tool  marks 

We  therefore  think  we  are  justified  in  claiming  that 


38          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

our  compressor  is  not  only  the  most  economical  one  in 
the  market  to  operate,  but  that  it  is  also  the  most  eco- 
nomical one  to  maintain  and  keep  in  repair  for  any  num- 
ber of  years. 

These  are  important  considerations  to  establishments 
using  Refrigerating-  or  Ice  Machines, 


CONDENSERS  (PATENTED), 


IN  the  apparatus  required  for  the  second  operation  of 
the  cycle  already  mentioned,  wherein  the  heat  is  ab> 
stracted  from  the  compressed  gas,  we  have  made  con, 
siderable  improvements  over  previous  practice.  As  al> 
ready  stated,  all  gases  when  compressed  are  decreased 
in  volume  and  increased  in  temperature,  and  to  produce 
liquefaction  in  the  case  of  a  liquefiable  gas,  it  has  to  be 
cooled  by  some  means  which  nature  affords.  The  cool- 
ing process  first  abstracts  the  sensible  heat  of  the  gas, 
until  it  has  reached  its  point  of  liquefaction.  In  this 
condition  any  further  cooling  liquefies  a  portion  of  the 
gas,  and  this  goes  on  continually  until  all  the  gas  is  con- 
densed, always  provided,  however,  that  the  pressure  is 
kept  up  by  the  continued  operation  of  the  compressor. 
In  this  manner  the  latent  heat  of  the  gas  is  carried 
away,  as  heretofore  described. 

The  medium  usually  employed  for  cooling  is  water 
at  as  low  a  temperature  as  it  can  be  obtained  with 
economy;  the  colder  the  water  the  less  of  it  will  be  re- 


PLATE  8. — no-ton  Machine,  with  Condensers  on  floor  above. 


CONDENSERS  (PA  TENTED).  39 

quired,  and  it  should,  if  possible,  be  free  from  deleterious 
substances,  so  that  after  performing  the  cooling-  required 
it  can  be  used  for  other  purposes, 

A  form  of  condenser  frequently  used  consists  of  a 
coil  of  pipe  submerged  in  a  tank  through  which  water 
circulates;  the  gas  entering  the  coil  is  deprived  of  its 
heat  and  becomes  liquefied. 

Another  form  of  condenser  consists  of  a  coil  placed 
vertically,  with  a  gutter  at  the  top  of  the  supporting 
frame,  from  which  the  cooling  water  is  delivered  in  fine 
streams  or  showered  upon  the  upper  pipe,  and  as  it 
trickles  downward,  from  pipe  to  pipe,  its  temperature  is 
increased  as  it  descends,  by  its  absorption  of  heat  from 
the  liquefying  gas. 

The  condenser  adopted  by  us  is  of  the  latter  class, 
but  possesses  features  of  advantage  which  are  entirely 
lacking  in  the  ordinary  vertical  condenser,  and  which 
will  be  fully  demonstrated  by  the  following  cuts  : 

Plate  8  shows  one  of  our  no -ton  machines,  with 
the  condensers  on  floor  above.  The  small  pipe-coil  on 
the  right  side  is  the  oil-cooler,  through  which  the  oil 
passes  from  the  compressors,  and  where  it  is  cooled  by 
the  showering  water  prior  to  its  re-introduction  into  the 
compressing-pumps  for  sealing,  lubricating,  and  cooling 
purposes.  At  the  end  of  the  condensers  will  be  seen  a 
series  of  small  pipes,  called  the  "liquid  pipes,"  which 
are  united  for  each  condenser  into  one  short  pipe  of 
larger  diameter,  called  the  "  liquid  header,"  more  clearly 
shown  in  Plate  9,  which  represents  in  one  single  eleva- 
tion the  whole  process  through  which  the  oil  and  am- 


40          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

monia  pass  in  our  system.  The  liquid  pipes  serve  to 
carry  away  the  condensed  ammonia  from  separate  sec- 
tions of  the  condensing  coil,  so  as  to  keep  the  latter 
"dry,"  and  to  the  fullest  extent  utilize  its  surface  for  the 
purpose  of  abstracting  heat  from  the  gas. 

The  defects  which  have  been  found  to  exist  in  sub- 
merged condensers  are  as  follows  : 

1.  The  film  or  stratum  of  warmed  water  which  forms 
around  each  pipe,  and  large  quantities  of  air-bubbles  ad- 
here  tenaciously  to  the   same,  and   materially  interfere 
with  the  cooling  action  of  the  water  entering  at  a  lower 
temperature.* 

2.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  water  passes  by  the 
pipes  without  coming  in  contact  with  their  surfaces. 

3.  Leaks  of  ammonia  can  with  difficulty  be  detected, 
the  water  readily  absorbing  the  gas,  and  thereby  hiding 
its  loss. 

4.  The  pipes  being  submerged  are  almost  inaccess- 
ible for  inspection  and  cleaning;    and  for  this  reason 
they  corrode  and  wear  out  rapidly. 

Vertical  condensers  as  generally  constructed,  viz.,  so 
that  the  gas  has  to  enter  at  the  top,  are  subject  to  the 
following  defects: 

i.  Only  a  portion  of  the  condensing  surface  is  util- 
ized; for  when  the  warm  gas  enters  at  the  top  of  the  con- 
denser in  the  pipes  around  which  the  coldest  water 
flows,  only  the  upper  surface  of  the  condenser  is  of  ser- 
vice; the  water  being  so  warm  after  it  has  descended  a 

*J.  P.  Joule  "  On  the  Surface  Condensation  of  Steam." — Philosophical  Trans- 
actions of  the  Royal  Society,  London,  1861,  page  133. 


CONDENSERS*  (PA  TENTED}.  4 1 

certain  distance  as  to  render  the  lower  pipes  of  but  lit- 
tle use. 

2.  An  exorbitant  quantity  of  water  is  required,  and 
much  of  it  is  wasted  without  performing  any  cooling-. 

3.  A  higher  working  pressure  is  maintained  on  ac- 
count of  the  imperfect  utilization  of  the  low  initial  tem- 
perature of  the  water,  for  the  hot  gas  meeting  the  cold 
water  will  immediately  impart  heat  to  it,  and  liquefac- 
tion  can   only  follow  after  this  has  taken  place.     The 
liquefied  gas  now  runs  down  from  the  top  to  the  bottom 
pipe  simultaneously  with  the  water,  which  gets  warmer 
and  warmer  during  its  descent,  and  in  the  lower  pipes 
re-evaporation  of  a  part  of  the  gas  condensed  in  the 
upper  pipes  must  take  place.     This  is  not  only  a  loss, 
but  a  result  in  opposition  to  that  which  is  sought  to  be 
obtained. 

Our  condenser,  as  shown  in  the  cuts,  resembles  in 
principle  the  Baudelot  cooler  of  the  brewer,  which  has 
proved  the  most  efficient  form  of  cooler  yet  introduced 
for  rapidly  extracting  heat  from  a  liquid  with  a  minimum 
quantity  of  cooling  water.  As  applied  by  us  to  the  cooling 
and  liquefaction  of  ammoniacal  gas,  we  claim,  and  are 
ready  to  prove,  the  following  points  of  excellence  over 
the  condensers  used  by  other  manufacturers  : 

I.   Economy  of  Water, 

By  reason  of  the  thin  stratum  of  water  passing  over 
the  pipes,  and  it  being  kept  in  a  constant  rolling  motion 
by  the  velocity  of  the  flow,  and  its  direct  contact  with 
the  pipes,  we  entirely  avoid  the  surface  film  of  water 


42          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

which  adheres  so  tenaciously  to  the  pipes  in  submerged 
condensers. 

By  admitting  the  warm  compressed  gas  at  the  bot- 
tom instead  of  at  the  top  of  the  condenser,  as  practiced 
by  some  others,  we  expose  the  warmest  gas  to  the 
warmest  water.  The  gas  ascending  in  the  condenser 
constantly  meets  colder  water  until  its  temperature  is 
almost  reduced  to  the  temperature  of  the  water  where 
it  first  comes  on  the  condenser,  when  liquefaction  takes 
place  ;  the  water,  on  the  contrary,  in  its  downward 
passage  meets  warmer  gas  and  is  thereby  increased  in 
temperature  until  it  finally  leaves  the  condenser  at  the 
bottom,  charged  with  more  heat  than  the  same  quantity 
would  otherwise  be  capable  of  extracting. 

In  consequence  of  the  gradual  extraction  of  heat  just 
described,  the  difference  between  the  initial  and  final 
temperatures  of  the  water  is  greater  than  can  possibly 
be  obtained  in  any  other  form  of  condenser.  More  heat 
is  extracted  for  an  equal  quantity  of  water  used,  there- 
fore less  water  is  required.  This  last  will  be  apparent 
to  the  brewer,  should  we  ask  him  to  cool  his  hot  wort 
by  allowing  the  cold  water  to  enter  the  top  instead  of 
the  bottom  of  his  Baudelot  cooler.  The  natural  result 
would  be  that  instead  of  using  from  one  to  two  barrels 
of  cooling  water  per  barrel  of  wort,  he  would  require 
twenty  to  thirty  times  that  quantity,  and  still  be  unable 
to  reduce  the  temperature  of  his  wort  to  the  proper 
degree. 

The  loss  attending  "  spattering  "  is  thoroughly  pre- 
vented by  attaching  fins,  or  strips  of  metal,  to  the  under 


CONDENSERS  (PA  TENTED).  43 

sides  of  the  pipes  which  lead  and  guide  the  water  in 
its  descent. 

2.  Reduction  of  Working  Pressure. 

In  bringing  the  coldest  gas  in  contact  with  the  cold- 
est water,  we  can  achieve  liquefaction  with  a  pressure 
almost  due  the  initial  temperature  of  the  cooling  water. 

By  means  of  the  intermediate  or  liquid  pipes  con- 
necting with  the  main  pipes  of  the  condenser,  we  carry 
off  the  liquefied  gas  as  fast  as  it  forms,  thus  preventing 
its  descent  to  the  lower  and  warmer  pipes  of  the  coil 
and  its  consequent  re-expansion,  which  would  materially 
increase  the  pressure. 

3.  Reduction  of  Friction. 

By  using  pipes  two  inches  in  diameter  for  our  con- 
densers, the  internal  friction  of  the  gas  is  considerably 
diminished. 

4.  Accessibility  of  parts. 

By  reason  of  our  peculiar  construction  all  parts  are 
easy  of  access  and  can  be  readily  cleaned. 

The  condensers  are  so  attached  to  the  main  pipes 
that  any  one  can  be  readily  emptied,  disconnected, 
cleaned,  or  painted,  without  interfering  with  the  work- 
ing of  the  others. 

5.  Superior  Construction. 

All  the  pipe  connections  of  our  condensers  are  made 
with  our  patented  screwed  and  soldered  joints,  and  our 
own  fittings  (a  description  of  which  will  be  found  further 
on  )  ;  while  other  makers  use  either  the  ordinary  pipe 


I 

44          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

joint,  with  or  without  a  wash  of  solder  on  the  surface,  or 
with  rubber  washers.  By  thus  rendering  our  joints 
absolutely  gas  tight,  we  save  annually  a  large  amount 
of  ammonia,  and  obviate  all  other  troubles  incident  to 
the  escape  of  the  gas. 
6.  Economy  in  Fuel 

Is  attained — 

By  reducing  the  direct  pressure  of  the  compressed 
gas; 

By  reducing  the  compression-curve  through  internal 
cooling; 

By  reducing  the  friction  in  the  gas-compressor; 

In  requiring  less  water  to  be  elevated  to  do  the  work. 

The  above  economies,  especially  those  of  the  water, 
will  be  set  forth  more  fully  in  describing  the  results  ac- 
complished with  some  of  our  plants.  It  will  not  be 
amiss  to  state  here  that  competitors  often  claim  to  do  a 
maximum  amount  of  work  with  a  minimum  quantity  of 
water,  but  these  claims  are  theoretically  as  well  as 
practically  impossible.  Any  one  familiar  with  the  laws 
governing  the  transmission  or  conduction  of  heat  will 
see  at  a  glance,  from  the  explanation  we  have  given  of 
the  different  systems,  that  such  claims  are  practically 
impossible. 

We  have  an  experimental  condenser  erected  at  our 
works,  which  admits  of  the  introduction  of  the  hot  gas 
into  the  top  or  bottom,  or  at  intermediate  points  and  we 
shall  be  pleased  to  have  those  interested  in  the  subject 
call  and  witness  a  demonstration  of  the  foregoing  state- 
ments. 


SEPARA  TING-  TANKS  (PA  TENTED}.  45 


SEPARATING-TANKS  (PATENTED). 


OLD    SYSTEM. 

THESE  tanks  perform 'the  auxiliary  process  of  sep- 
arating the  lubricating  liquid  from  the  ammomacal  gas 
before  and  after  its  liquefaction. 

In  referring  to  Plate  9  again,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
gas  and  the  lubricating  liquid  discharged  at  each  stroke 
of  the  compressor  are  conducted  through  the  discharge 
pipe  to  a  cylindrical  tank  placed  vertically,  from  the 
top  of  which  the  gas  continues  on  its  passage  to  the  con- 
densers. Any  lubricating  liquid  that  may  be  carried 
along  with  the  ammonia  is  conveyed  with  it  through  the 
condensers  to  a  second  tank,  placed  on  an  incline  and 
called  the  storage  tank.  From  this  the  liquid  ammonia 
passes  to  another  vertical  storage  tank,  and  here  the 
small  traces  of  lubricating  liquid,  mixed  with  the  am- 
monia, separate  from  the  latter  in  settling  down  to  the 
bottom,  the  oil  being  heavier  than  the  ammonia.  From 
time  to  time  this  oil  may  be  drawn  off  through  certain 
pipes  and  cocks  arranged  for  the  purpose  into  the  first 
separating-tank,  which  is  located  somewhat  lower  down. 

The  lubricating  liquid  deposited  in  the  first  separat- 
ing tank  is  warm,  having  in  its  passage  through  the  com- 
pressor abstracted  heat  developed  during  compression. 
From  the  bottom  of  this  tank  it  is  conducted  to  a  verti- 
cal coil  of  pipe — the  oil  cooler,  over  which  water  trickles 


46          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  7'ING  MA  CHINE  CO, 

— and  by  this  means  is  cooled,  and  then  discharged  into 
another  tank,  the  cold-oil  tank,  from  which  it  is  pumped 
or  forced  by  pressure  to  repeat  the  same  round  of  opera- 
tions. Other  builders  not  being  in  a  position  to  use  the 
lubricating  liquid  in  the  manner  described,  do  not  require 
the  separating-tanks,  coils,  etc.,  above  mentioned.  These 
auxiliaries  increase  the  first  cost  of  our  machine,  but  the 
purchaser  is  amply  repaid  by  the  economy  of  fuel,  water, 
repairs,  etc.  We  consider  the  use  of  the  lubricating 
liquid  in  this  manner  one  of  the  most  economical  feat- 
ures of  our  entire  system. 

In  order  to  control  the  flow  of  the  liquid  through  the 
system  an  oil-regulating  cock  is  placed  in  the  pipe,  con- 
necting the  first  separating  or  hot-oil  tank  with  the  cold- 
oil  tank.  Glass  gauges  attached  to  the  tanks  permit  of 
ascertaining  the  height  at  which  the  several  liquids  stand 
in  the  tanks,  thus  furnishing  to  the  attendant  a  complete 
control  of  the  apparatus. 

NEW    SYSTEM. 

IN  our  new  and  improved  system  of  oil-circulation 
we  have  considerably  simplified  the  process  of  handling 
the  oil  in  its  course  through  the  compressors. 

In  the  first  instance  we  do  not  any  more  use  the  low- 
pressure  or  cold-oil  tank.  By  exposing  the  oil  to  the 
low-pressure  of  the  suction  side  it  lost  some  of  the  gas 
held  in  solution  at  the  high-pressure  of  the  condenser. 
This  gas  passed  into  the  compressor  without  doing  any 
efficient  cooling  and  resulted  in  a  loss  of  capacity  of  the 
compressor.  While  this  loss  was  small,  still  we  have 


SEPARA  TING-  TANKS  (PA  TENTED}.  4  7 

obviated  it  by  not  exposing  the  oil  to  any  lower  press- 
ure than  the  condenser-pressure  before  it  re-enters  the 
compressor.  In  this  manner  we  have  not  only  gained 
as  much  as  it  was  possible  to  gain,  but  we  have  simpli- 
fied the  system  by  the  elimination  of  the  low-pressure 
oil-tank.  The  second  separating-tank,  the  one  which  sep> 
arates  the  oil  from  the  liquefied  ammonia,  is  now  placed 
by  the  side  of  the  first  or  high-pressure  tank,  and  thus  the 
oil  system  is  considerably  simplified.  Instead  of  "  in- 
jecting "  the  oil  through  an  injector  into  the  compressor, 
we  now  use  an  oil-pump,  which  always  supplies  the  gas- 
pump  with  a  measured  quantity  of  oil  at  each  stroke; 
and  in  case  of  the  double-acting  compressor  it  supplies 
this  oil  during  the  compression-period  of  the  piston, 
which  is  the  proper  time  to  do  it,  because  during  com- 
pression heat  is  developed  and  the  oil  then  fulfills  its 
purpose  of  carrying  away  the  heat  of  compression. 

Plate  10  shows  our  new  system  of  separating-tanks, 
and  in  following  the  arrows  the  process  through  which 
the  ammonia  and  oil  pass  is  clearly  seen,  in  the  draw- 
ing of  the  new  system  as  well  as  in  the  one  of  the  old. 


EXPANSION  COILS. 

IN  passing  to  the  third  operation -mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  this  book,  we  will  state  that  we  prefer  to 
refrigerate,  establishments  by  expanding  the  gas  direct 
through  pipes  placed  in  the  rooms  to  be  cooled,  and  not 
by  first  cooling  a  non-congealable  salt  brine  and  pump- 


48          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

ing  this  through  pipes  in  the  rooms.  The  reason  for  this 
is  that  a  loss  of  efficiency  is  always  connected  with  every 
transmission  of  heat.  We  can  carry  an  evaporating 
pressure  in  our  direct  pipes  of  25  pounds  and  still  have 
within  them  a  temperature  of  14°  Fahrenheit,  while  only 
15  pounds  can  be  carried  in  the  evaporating  coils  to  keep 
the  brine  at  18°.  The  result  is  that  we  suck  the  gas  into 
our  compressors  at  a  higher  back-pressure  than  if  we  first 
cool  brine;  and,  as  explained  before  in  enumerating  the 
advantages  of  ammonia  over  other  agents,  we  get  a 
greater  efficiency  from  a  certain  compressor  the  greater 
the  pressure  is  at  which  we  take  in  the  gas.  Further- 
more, we  produce  the  cold  just  where  it  is  wanted,  and 
lose  nothing,  while  in  the  brine  system  a  large  tank  is 
exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  and — even  if  insulated — ab- 
sorbs a  great  deal  of  heat,  which  is  a  total  loss.  To 
pump  the  sometimes  immense  masses  of  brine  through 
thousands  of  feet  of  pipes,  which  after  a  while  become 
coated  on  the  inside  with  rust  and  slime,  and  thereby 
produce  great  friction  and  non-conductibility,  costs  a 
considerable  amount  of  steam,  so  that  through  all  these 
different  causes  combined  we  increase  the  efficiency  of 
our  machines  on  account  of  the  direct  expansion  alone 
from  20  to  25  per  cent.  The  objection  raised  against 
placing  the  ammonia  pipes  direct  into  the  rooms  to  be 
cooled,  that  there  is  danger  of  leakage,  we  have  met  by 
a  most  perfect  system  of  pipe  connections  and  cocks, 
which  we  shall  describe  further  on.  All  pipes  #re  tested 
singly,  before  they  are  put  up,  to  1,000  pounds  hydro- 
static pressure  per  square  inch;  and  after  they  are  all  con- 


220  TON  REFRIGERATING   MACHINE. 


PLATE  n.  —  220-ton  Refrigerating  Machine,  with  Condensers  above. 


EXPANSION   COILS. 


49 


nected,  the  whole  system  is  subjected  to  an  air-pressure 
of  300  pounds,  at  which  the  gauge  must  remain  for 
hours  in  succession.  In  this  manner  we  produce  a  plant 
that  is  many  times  safer  than  any  steam-boiler;  and 
since  the  first  machine  was  erected,  in  1879,  and  with 
over  700  miles  of  pipes  now  in  operation,  we  have  not  a 
single  accident  yet  to  record.  The  size  of  pipe  adopted 
by  us  for  the  expansion  coils  is  2  inches  diameter,  and 
we  give  preference  to  this  size  for  the  reason  that  it  is 
lap-welded,  whereas  the  smaller  sizes  are  butt-welded; 
and  also  on  account  of  the  diminished  friction  of  the 
gas  in  passing  through  pipes  of  this  diameter. 

Formerly  we  used  pipes  only  to  obtain  the  necessary 
cooling  surface  in  the  rooms  to  be  refrigerated;  but 
since  1882  we  have  accomplished  the  same  object  by 
means  of  cast-iron  disks,  which  are  made  in  halves  and 
attached  to  the  expansion  coils,  after  these  are  all  put 
up,  by  means  of  iron  clips,  which  press  the  two  halves 
together  against  the  pipes.  We  thereby  increase  the 
cooling  surface  to  such  an  extent  that  we  now  need  only 
one  foot  of  pipe  where  formerly  we  required  four,  thus 
saving  in  room  and  first  cost. 

The  application  of  the  disk  is  based  upon  the  prin- 
ciple now  used  in  the  most  efficient  of  our  modern  steam 
radiators,  in  which  the  heating  surface  exposed  to  the 
air  is  increased  by  means  of  flanges  and  projections 
added  to  the  outside  surface  of  the  radiator;  thus  ex- 
posing a  larger  heating  surface  than  was  attained  with 
the  old  form  of  steam  coils. 

By  applying  our  disks  to  steam  coils,  the  same  results 


50          THE  -DE  f-A    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

could  be  obtained  as  with  the  modern  steam  radiator; 
the  transmission  of  heat  could  be  increased  or  diminish- 
ed according  to  the  number  of  disks  applied  to  each 
lineal  foot  of  pipe. 

The  results  obtained  are  based  upon  the  fact  that 
heat  is  conducted  with  more  rapidity  by  iron  than  by 
air.  Whereas,  one  square  inch  of  iron  will  transmit,  say, 
fifty  heat  units  per  minute  to  another  piece  of  iron  at- 
tached to  its  surface,  it  will  transmit  but  one  heat  unit, 
under  similar  conditions  of  temperature  to  air. 

In  order  to  make  a  refrigerating  coil  quick  and  ef- 
fective in  reducing  the  temperature  of  air,  we  bring  the 
air  in  contact  with  as  large  a  refrigerating  surface  as 
practice  admits  of,  without,  however,  increasing  the  in- 
ternal surface  bathed  with  the  chilled  liquefied  ammonia 
to  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary. 

We  make  four  sizes  of  disks — three  round,  6  inches, 
10  inches,  and  14  inches  diameter  respectively,  and  one 
of  oval  shape,  10  inches  by  15  inches — in  order  to  ac- 
commodate them  to  the  room  and  purpose  to  be  accom- 
plished. Plate  12  shows  these  disks  in  half-sections, 
and  also  as  they  appear  attached  to  the  coils. 

In  answer  to  frequent  inquiries,  it  will  not  be  amiss 
to  repeat  here  that  ammonia  has  no  chemical  effect  upon 
iron;  a  tank,  pipe,  or  stop-cock  containing  ammonia  in 
a  gaseous  or  liquified  condition  will  stand  an  indefinite 
time,  and  upon  opening  no  action  will  be  apparent.  We 
have  had  pipes  in  use  ten  years,  the  inside  surfaces  of 
which  have  not  changed  one  particle.  The  only  protec- 
tion, therefore,  that  ammonia-expanding  pipes  require  is 


PLATE  12. — Disks  for  Expansion  Coils, 


PLATE  13. — Fermenting-Room. 


EXPANSION   COILS. 


from  corrosion  on  the  outer  surface.  As  long-  as  the 
pipes  are  covered  with  snow  or  ice  corrosion  does  not 
occur  ;  the  coating-  of  ice  thoroughly  protects  them  from 
the  oxidizing  effect  of  the  atmosphere;  but  alternate 
freezing  and  thawing  requires  protected  surfaces,  which 
are  best  obtained  by  applying  a  coat  of  paint  every 
season. 

We  aim  to  do  thorough,  good  work,  and  spare 
neither  expense  nor  pains  to  give  our  customers  the  very 
best  machines  and  plants  which  can  be  obtained;  both 
as  a  whole  and  in  minute  detail.  This,  no  doubt,  is  ex- 
pensive,  but  the  resulting  economy  in  working,  and  the 
immunity  from  accidents  and  stoppages,  more  than 
compensate  for  the  interest  upon  the  increased  cost. 

Our  expansion  coils  having  to  withstand  but  a  maxi- 
mum working  pressure  of  thirty  pounds  per  square  inch, 
are  constructed  with  such  absolute  security,  in  whole  and 
in  detail,  as  to  make  them  one  of  the  most  perfect  pipe 
constructions  on  a  large  scale  ever  applied  in  practice. 


BRINE-COOLING  COILS. 

WHEN  preferred  by  our  customers,  or  where  the  cir- 
cumstances make  it  desirable,  we  are  also  fully  prepared 
to  apply  the  "brine-circulating  system,"  which  consists 
simply  in  cooling  any  saline  solution,  such  as  chloride 
of  calcium,  chloride  of  sodium,  chloride  of  magnesium, 
etc.,  and  circulating  the  chilled  solution  by  means  of 


52  THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

pumps,  either  in  closed    pipes  or  open  troughs  through 
the  rooms  to  be  refrigerated. 

The  ordinary  method  employed  in  abstracting  heat 
from  the  brine  is  to  inclose  the  brine  in  a  large  tank 
supplied  with  vertical  coils,  in  which  the  chilled  liquefied 
ammonia  circulates,  vaporizes,  and  returns  as  a  gas  to 
the  compressor.  These  submerged  coils  are  usually 
supplied  with  expansion  valves  attached  to  their  lower 
ends,  their  upper  ends  connecting  by  a  main  pipe  with 
the  suction  side  of  the  compressor.  The  brine,  deprived 
of  a  portion  of  its  heat,  is  drawn  away  by  the  circulat- 
ing-pump, and  forced  to  circulate  through  the  gutters 
or  coils  suspended  in  the  rooms  to  be  cooled;  in  its  pas- 
sage it  abstracts  heat  from  the  air  in  the  room,  is  there- 
by increased  in  temperature,  and,  returning,  enters  at 
the  top  of  the  tank  to  again  go  through  the  same  opera- 
tion. 


AMMONIA   BAUDELOT   COOLER    (PATENTED), 


IN  the  manufacture  of  lager  beer  it  is  not  only  nec- 
essary to  reduce  the  cellars  and  chambers  used  for  stor- 
age and  fermenting  purposes  to  a  low  degree,  but  addi- 
tional refrigeration  has  to  be  performed  in  reducing  the 
temperature  of  the  wort,  to  prepare  it  for  fermentation. 

The  process  hitherto  employed  by  brewers  using 
natural  ice  has  been  to  force  ice-water  into  the  bottom 
of  a  vertical  coil,  over  which  the  warm  wort  trickles, 


AMMONIA  BAUDELOT  COOLER  (PATENTED}.  53 

and  is  thereby  reduced  in  temperature.  To  economize 
in  the  consumption  of  ice,  the  majority  of  brewers  em- 
ploy a  double  cooling  system  by  separating  the  vertical 
cooler  into  two  coils;  through  the  upper  one  well-water 
is  forced,  and  the  temperature  of  the  wort  reduced  to 
about  60  degrees  Fahrenheit;  through  the  lower  one 
ice-water  circulates,  which,  in  turn,  reduces  the  temper- 
ature to  40  degrees  Fahrenheit.  In  breweries  supplied 
with  the  refrigerating  machines  of  other  builders,  the 
ice-water  employed  above  is  replaced  with  brine  or 
water  cooled  by  the  machine;  submerged  expanding 
coils  being  used  to  effect  the  refrigeration.  After  the 
completion  of  our  improved  compressor,  the  first  thing 
that  attracted  our  attention  was  the  roundabout  way 
employed  by  other  builders  in  reducing  the  temperature 
of  the  wort.  They  require  coils  to  reduce  the  temperature 
of  the  brine  or  water,  a  circulating  pump,  and  an  addi- 
tional coil  through  which  the  cooled  brine  or  water  has 
to  be  forced  in  order  to  reduce  the  temperature  of  the 
wort.  If  a  machine  is  obliged  to  cool  brine  or  water 
from  say  60  to  33  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  circulate  it  as 
above  described,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  work  re- 
quired, why  can  it  not  cool  the  wort  direct,  and  thus 
avoid  the  use  of  a  circulating  pump  and  tanks,  and  also 
the  loss  occasioned  by  the  absorption  of  heat  by  the 
brine  before  the  latter  is  brought  to  do  its  work,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  loss  occasioned  by  being  obliged  to  re- 
duce the  cooling  medium  five  and  even  eight  degrees 
below  that  of  the  wort  cooled  ? 

In  answer  to  the  above  question,  we  can  safely  as- 


54 


THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 


sert  that  the  direct  system  is  the  only  one  the   brewer 
should  apply  to  the  cooling  of  his  wort. 

As  the  work  required  to  be  performed  in  reducing 
the  temperature  of  the  wort  amounts  to  almost  one- 
third  of  the  entire  refrigerating  work  of  the  brewery, 
and  to  more  than  the  work  done  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
brewery  during  the  time  the  wort  is  being  cooled,  it  is 
essential  that  the  brewer  should  consider  thoroughly 
which  system  is  the  most  economical  one  to  adopt;  and 
to  aid  him  in  this  we  have  compiled  in  the  following  a 
brief  statement  of  the  advantages  offered  by  our  system: 

1.  Accessibility  of  Parts. 

The  cooler  is  located  and  erected  by  us  in  a  manner 
similar  to  the  ordinary  Baudelot  cooler. 

Where  a  well-water  cooler  and  the  proper  height 
exist,  we  place  our  cooler  below  the  water  cooler  al- 
ready in  use  in  the  brewery,  and  thus  obtain  a  location 
easy  of  access  from  all  sides. 

2.  Superior  Construction. 

We  have  formerly  used  for  the  direct  expansion 
Baudelot  iron  pipes  covered  with  copper.  This  was 
done  because  in  most  cases  the  brewer  desired  to  have 
the  cooler  match  the  one  he  had  in  use  for  forecooling 
the  wort  with  water — and  this  is  in  all  cases  made  of 
copper  pipes.  In  the  course  of  our  experience,  however, 
we  have  often  obtained  from  the  manufacturer  iron  pipes 
over  which  the  copper  was  so  loosely  drawn  that  it  seri- 
ously impaired  their  efficiency,  and  in  some  cases  abso- 


AMMONIA  BAUDELOT  COOLER  (PATENTED).  55 

lutely  preventing  the  apparatus  from  doing  its  work. 
The  thin  stratum  of  air  intervening  between  the  iron 
pipe  and  its  copper  covering  effectually  prevented  the 
conduction  of  heat.  When  we  were  first  brought  face 
to  face  with  such  a  case  the  copper  was  stripped  off,  and 
the  result  was  a  much  more  efficient  cooling  than  we  had 
ever  done  before.  We  now  recommend  a  plain  iron 
pipe  cooler  as  being  more  efficient  and  cheaper.  The 
pipes  are  all  ground  bright  with  an  emery-wheel,  and 
the  coating  which  is  imparted  to  them  by  the  wort 
after  they  have  been  used  several  times,  absolutely  pre- 
vents their  rusting  even  if  they  are  not  rubbed  dry  after 
wort-cooling.  By  special  request,  however,  we  still 
make  the  copper-covered  cooler 

3.  Rapidity  of  Cooling. 

By  employing  our  direct  system,  the  cooling  of  the 
wort  can  be  effected  at  any  rate  of  speed  desired.  Where- 
as it  is  necessary  with  the  indirect  system  to  run  the 
compressors  some  eight  or  ten  hours,  in  order  to  store  a 
large  enough  volume  of  cold  water  or  brine  to  effect 
the  cooling  of  the  wort,  we  require  but  a  minute's  notice 
to  open  the  expanding-cock  and  put  the  cooler  in  oper- 
ation. 

4.  Ease  of  Management. 

With  our  improved  form  of  expanding  stop-cock  the 
flow  of  liquefied  ammonia  entering  the  cooler  can  be 
regulated  to  such  a  nicety  that  the  wort  is  delivered 
into  the  fermenting-tubs  at  the  exact  temperature  the 
brewer  requires. 


5  6          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

5 .  Increased  Efficiency. 

By  extracting  the  heat  direct  from  the  wort  we  dis- 
pense entirely  with  an  intermediate  agent,  such  as  water 
or  brine,  and  thus  avoid  the  loss  of  efficiency  occasioned 
in  the  absorption  of  heat  by  the  cooled  water  or  brine 
during  its  period  of  storage  and  circulation. 

6.  Economy  of  Fuel. 

The  higher  the  pressure  at  which  the  expanded  gas 
returns  to  the  compressors,  the  greater  will  be  the 
amount  of  work  performed  per  stroke ;  consequently 
the  higher  the  back-pressure  at  which  a  machine  can  do 
its  work  effectively,  the  greater  will  be  the  weight  of  gas 
compressed  and  liquefied  at  each  revolution. 

In  cooling  the  water  or  brine  used  for  circulating 
through  the  wort  cooler,  the  back-pressure  in  the  com- 
pressors of  other  builders  amounts  to  from  15  to  20  Ibs., 
whereas  in  cooling  the  wort  direct  by  our  system  a 
back-pressure  of  from  30  to  40  Ibs.  can  be  maintained. 
We  therefore  do  over  50^  more  work  at  each  stroke 
of  the  compressor  than  we  could  accomplish  in  ap- 
plying the  old  system,  and  thereby  obtain  a  corre- 
sponding economy  in  fuel.  By  expanding  the  gas  only 
where  refrigeration  is  wanted  nothing  is  lost,  but  every- 
thing is  utilized  ;  we  therefore  compress  a  smaller 
weight  of  gas  to  do  the  same  work  than  would  be  re- 
quired in  indirect  cooling,  and  fuel  is  economized  in 
consequence. 

The  brewer  finds  it  an  advantage  to  employ  the 
Baudelot  cooler  for  his  wort — he  economizes  in  water, 


AMMONIA  BAUDELOT  COOLER  (PATENTED}.  57 

ice,  and  coal  ;  its  superior  efficiency  justifies  him  in 
adopting  it.  For  the  same  reason,  our  system  will 
eventually  be  preferred  to  all  others. 


ATTEMPERATOR-SYSTEM  (PATENTED). 

IN  breweries  there  is,  in  addition  to  the  cooling  of  the 
cellars  and  the  wort,  a  third  duty  to  be  performed  by 
the  refrigerating-machine,  viz.,  the  cooling  of  the  beer 
in  fermentation.  Where  ice  is  used  this  is  accomplished 
by  so-called  ''swimmers" — conical  vessels  made  of  tin 
or  sheet-copper.  Whenever  the  temperature  of  the  beer 
in  a  fermenting-tub  rises  too  high,  so  that  fermentation 
proceeds  too  fast,  a  swimmer  is  put  into  this  tub,  where 
it  floats  on  the  surface  of  the  beer.  Ice  is  put  into  the 
swimmer,  and  the  temperature  of  the  beer  is  lowered  by 
its  contact  with  the  cooling  surface  of  the  swimmer. 
The  labor,  however,  in  handling  such  cumbersome  ves- 
sels, the  frequent  occurrence  of  their  "  drowning,"  and 
the  difficulty  of  easy  regulation  of  the  temperature,  have 
resulted  in  replacing  the  swimmer  by  the  "  attemper- 
ator,"  which  consists  of  a  coil  of  iron  or  copper  pipe, 
placed  in  the  tub.  The  coils  of  all  the  tubs  are  sup- 
plied with  cold  water  (  at  about  34°  Fahr.)  from  a  separ- 
ate steam-pump  called  the  attemperator-pump.  Each 
attemperator  has  an  inlet  and  an  outlet  valve,  which 
connect  it  with  the  supply  and  return  main,  so  that  the 
circulation  of  cold  water  through  it  can  be  regulated  at 


58         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

will,  and  thus  the  temperature  of  each  tub  kept  where 
it  is  desired  in  order  to  properly  conduct  the  process  of 
fermentation.  In  breweries  refrigerated  by  ice,  the  cold 
water  is  supplied  from  a  tank,  tub,  or  cistern,  in  which 
ice  is  constantly  kept  in  sufficient  quantities  to  maintain 
the  water  at  a  temperature  a  little  above  freezing.  The 
water,  after  having  traversed  the  attemperators,  is  re- 
turned to  the  ice-tank  only  slightly  warmer  ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  water  must  in- 
crease in  bulk  by  the  melting  of  the  ice,  and  since 
nothing  can  be  done  with  it,  the  surplus  is  allowed  to 
run  to  waste.  Where,  however,  refrigerating  machines 
are  used,  the  water  is  cooled  by  evaporating-coils,  the 
same  as  brine,  and  as  it  neither  increases  nor  decreases 
in  quantity  there  is  no  wasting  of  cold  water. 

In  the  greater  number  of  breweries  using  the  attem- 
perator-system,  the  cold  water  is  forced  through  the  coils 
direct  from  the  pump.  The  defect  of  this  modus  opcr- 
andi,  however,  is  that  when  more  coils  are  suddenly 
turned  on,  and  a  greater  supply  of  water  necessary,  the 
pressure  on  the  other  coils  is  diminished  and  their  sup- 
ply lessened,  unless  the  pump  is  watched  by  somebody 
and  run  faster  at  such  times.  Still,  it  was  very  difficult 
to  maintain  the  same  pressure  in  the  pipe-system,  and 
the  regulation  of  one  coil  always  influenced  all  the  others. 

In  the  system  which  we  employ,  the  cold-water  tank, 
with  its  cooling  coils,  is  placed  above  the  uppermost 
fermenting-room,  and  the  water  runs  through  the  attem- 
perators by  gravity,  thus  furnishing  an  absolutely  uni- 
form pressure  throughout  the  day,  to  the  whole  pipe- 


A  TTEMPERA  TOR-S  YS  TEM  (PA  TENTED  ). 


system.  In  order  to  control  automatically  the  varying 
quantities  of  water  needed,  a  long-  stand-pipe  receives 
the  water  after  its  passage  through  the  attemperators.  If 
more  water  is  used  and  the  height  of  it  in  this  pipe  in- 
creases, the  greater  pressure  which  it  exerts  upon  a  small 
piston  is  utilized  to  open  the  steam  throttle  of  the  pump 
a  little  more  and  makes  the  pump  run  faster,  thus  en- 
abling it  to  carry  back  to  the  cold-water  tank  the  in- 
creased quantity  of  water  circulated.  If  less  water  is 
used  the  operation  goes  the  opposite  way,  the  lessen- 
ed pressure  of  the  water  column  tending  to  shut  off  the 
throttle,  and  thus  reducing  the  speed  of  the  pump.  This 
arrangement  works  admirably,  and  does  away  with  the 
necessity  of  having  an  attendant  to  regulate  properly 
the  speed  of  the  pump.  It  was  invented  and  patented 
by  one  of  our  customers,  but  the  patent  was  generously 
assigned  to  us  by  him  for  our  exclusive  use. 


OUR  PIPE  SYSTEM  (PATENTED). 

j< 

NOT  only  has  it  been  found  difficult  to  build  a  gas- 
compressor  which  was  efficient  and  durable,  and  a  stuff- 
ing-box of  the  simplest  construction,  which  would  at  all 
times  be  tight  without  requiring  constant  attention  and 
frequent  repacking,  but  a  great  drawback  in  the  con- 
struction of  refrigerating  machines  has  been  the  diffi- 
culty of  making  a  pipe-system  with  its  joints  and  cocks, 
or  valves,  which  was  absolutely  tight,  so  that  there  would 


6O         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

be  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  using  as  many  joints  and 
cocks  as  was  found  necessary  for  a  perfect  system  of 
direct  expansion. 

We  have  succeeded  in  accomplishing1  this  result,  and 
though  it  may  be  considered  expensive  in  first  cost,  it 
is  certainly  economical  in  the  end.  A  ten  years'  ex- 
perience has  proved  this. 

On  Plate  14  a  2^-inch  and  a  i-inch  stop-cock  are 
shown.  We  have  bought  the  patent  on  this  cock,  and 
have  found  it  to  answer  the  purpose  in  a  very  perfect 
manner.  It  will  be  seen  that  over  the  large  end  of 
the  cock  a  cap  is  bolted,  which  is  made  tight  by  a  lead 
gasket  filling  an  annular  recess.  Into  this  recess  the 
male  of  the  cap  fits,  thus  making  a  tight  joint  of  a  dur- 
able metal.  Between  the  cap  and  the  plug  we  insert  a 
spiral  spring,  which  at  all  times  presses  the  plug  on  to  its 
seat,  so  that  no  impurities  can  get  at  the  very  carefully 
ground  surface,  and  in  this  manner  we  prevent  cutting 
of  the  surface  and  ensure  tightness. 

Plate  15  represents  our  j^-inch  expansion-cock,  used 
to  regulate  the  flow  of  liquid  into  the  expansion-coils. 
Since  this  regulation  has  to  be  of  the  very  nicest  kind, 
we  have  constructed  the  passage  through  the  plug  in 
the  following  manner:  The  round  opening  does  not  en- 
tirely pass  through,  and  the  thin  remaining  bridge  of 
metal  is  perforated  in  the  shape  of  a  very  narrow  wedge, 
the  point  of  which  is  the  first  to  open.  Movement  is 
imparted  to  the  plug  by  a  worm  and  worm-wheel, 
thus  ensuring  adjustment  of  a  most  delicate  character. 

To  ensure  perfect  tightness  between  the  pipes  proper 


Stop-Cock. 


i-inch  Stop- Cock. 
PLATE  14.— Stop-Cocks. 


PLATE  15. — J^-inch  Expansion  Cock. 


2-inch  Return  Bend. 


2-inch  Return  Bend  Flange. 
PLATE  16. — Fittings. 


PLATE  17. — 2-inch  Flange  Union. 


O  UR  PIPE  S  YS  TEM  (PA  TEN  TED ).  6 1 

and  the  fittings  to  which  they  are  attached,  we  have  in- 
vented and  patented  a  joint  which  we  call  the  "  screwed 
and  soldered  "  joint.  In  the  selection  of  fittings,  which 
are  shown  on  Plates  1 6  to  1 8,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
thread  into  which  the  pipe  screws  does  not  reach  en- 
tirely to  the  outside.  It  is  enlarged  to  the  depth  of  yz 
to  ^  of  an  inch,  forming  a  smooth  annular  space  around 
the  pipe  beyond  the  termination  of  its  thread.  All  our 
fittings  are  made  of  malleable  iron  or  steel,  which  admit 
of  being  well  tinned,  and  thus  we  form  a  screwed  and 
soldered  joint  by  entirely  filling  the  annular  recess, 
formed  on  the  outside  by  the  fitting,  and  on  the  inside 
by  the  pipe,  with  solder.  The  result  is  that  the  thread 
of  the  pipe  is  entirely  covered  and  that  the  otherwise 
weakest  part  of  the  pipe  is  made  the  strongest.  In 
over-running  our  test-pressure  of  1,000  pounds  to  the 
square  inch,  at  which  all  our  pipes,  fittings,  and  cocks 
are  tested  to  the  point  of  bursting,  we  always  rip  open 
the  pipe  before  this  joint  gives  out. 

The  flange-union  shown  on  Plate  17,  by  which  two 
pieces  of  pipe  connections  are  bolted  together,  is  made 
tight  by  a  lead  gasket,  as  has  been  described  in  con- 
nection with  our  stop-cocks. 

It  has  taken  us  many  years  to  perfect  the  pipe- 
system  which  we  now  manufacture.  Many  tons  of  de- 
fective castings  have  gone  into  the  scrap-heap,  and  even 
to-day  the  loss  on  this  account  is  considerable  ;  but  by 
giving  our  fittings  the  proper  strength  and  shape,  we 
have  reduced  this  loss  to  a  minimum.  The  best  special 
tools  that  we  could  get  in  the  market  have  been  pur- 


62          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

chased,  and  we  are  to-day  in  a  position  to  manufacture 
our  specialties  as  cheap  and  as  good  as  they  can  be 
made. 

In  our  new  and  extensive  works  at  the  foot  of  East 
1 38th  Street  we  are  enabled  to  turn  out  our  work  better 
and  faster  than  before,  and  unsurpassed  accommodations 
permit  the  shipping  of  our  machines  by  land  or  water 
to  any  part  of  the  United  States  or  to  foreign  countries. 


THE  STEAM-ENGINE, 

THE  steam-engine  which  operates  a  refrigerating 
machine  is  certainly  as  important  a  part  as  all  the  rest, 
but  here  we  had  the  selection  of  a  score  of  good  cut-off 
engines.  We  have  decided  on  two  kinds:  The  Corliss 
cut-off  for  our  larger  machines,  and  the  Tremper  cut-off 
and  governor  for  the  smaller  sizes.  Both  give  almost 
equally  good  results  as  far  as  economy  is  concerned,  and 
the  former  is  so  well  known  the  world  over  that  it  re- 
quires no  further  comment.  The  sectional  cut  on  the 
first  page  shows  the  general  arrangement  of  the  engine 
and  compressors.  The  engine  and  one  compressor  are 
coupled  to  the  same  crank,  thus  compelling  the  steam  to 
exert  its  greatest  power  at  the  point  of  greatest  resist- 
ance of  the  compressor-pistons.  The  layer  of  oil  on  the 
stuffing-box  of  the  compressor,  over  the  piston  and  the 
dome-valve,  by  which  the  sealing  of  those  parts  is 
effected,  is  also  clearly  shown. 


THE  MACHINE  IN  THE  HERMANN  BREWERY. 


THE  MACHINE  IN  THE  HERMANN  BREWERY. 

MR.  JOHN  C.  DE  LA  VERGNE,  President  of  this  com- 
pany, began  the  business  of  brewing  lager  beer  February 
i,  1876,  in  what  is  now  known  as  the  Hermann  Brewery, 
situated  in  i8th  Street,  between  7th  and  8th  Avenues, 
New  York  City. 

After  his  first  year's  experience  in  refrigerating  the 
brewery  with  ice — and  considering  the  outlay  required 
for  its  purchase,  the  many  incidental  expenses  and  de- 
lays attending  its  handling,  the  space  occupied  for  its 
storage,  the  uncertainty  of  the  ice  crop  and  its  increased 
price,  the  dampness,  waste,  slop,  and  inconvenience  ex, 
perienced  in  consequence  of  its  use,  he  was  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  if  there  were  any  mechanical  means 
for  accomplishing  the  same  or  better  results,  which 
were  practicable  and  reliable,  he  would  endeavor  to  se- 
cure the  same  for  use  in  his  brewery.  From  this  time 
his  attention  was  directed  to  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  various  refrigerating  machines  upon  the  market. 
This  investigation  fully  convinced  him  that  there  were 
really  no  successful  machines  in  operation  adapted  to 
the  purpose.  The  difficulties  which  presented  them- 
selves were  the  following: 

ist.  That  absorption  machines  were  intermittent  in 
their  action,  wasteful  of  water  and  fuel,  and  required  the 
constant  and  watchful  attendance  of  a  skillful  engi- 
neer, one  of  more  than  average  ability. 


64          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

2d.  That  no  machine  then  built  was  of  sufficient 
strength  and  capacity  readily  to  perform  the  work  re- 
quired  of  it,  and  they  were  therefore  unreliable. 

3d.  That  the  compressors  were  inefficient  and  per- 
formed  but  a  small  percentage  of  their  duty,  for  the 
reason  that  they  failed  to  expel,  at  each  stroke  of  the 
piston,  all  the  gas  contained  in  the  cylinder. 

4th.  That  most  of  them  leaked  gas  at  the  stuffing- 
box  of  the  piston-rod. 

5th.  That  the  gas-compressing  cylinders  had  to  be 
flushed  with  water  on  the  outside,  which  absorbed  the 
leaking  gas  and  prevented  the  detection  of  leaks. 

6th.  That  the  joints  of  the  pipes  were  imperfect  and 
would  not  hold  the  gas  under  pressure. 

7th.  That  the  stop-cocks  were  not  sufficiently  per- 
fect and  durable. 

Mr.  De  La  Vergne  decided,  however,  that  if  these 
difficulties  could  be  overcome,  nothing  would  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  successful  application  of  mechanical  re- 
frigeration to  the  cooling  of  his  vaults  and  fermenting 
rooms. 

About  this  time  his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  ad- 
vantage to  be  gained  by  using  a  liquid  to  assist  in  the 
complete  expulsion  of  the  gas  from  the  compressors  at 
each  stroke.  This  idea  impressed  him  so  favorably  that 
he  immediately  commenced  to  devise  plans  for  its  em- 
bodiment in  a  compression  pump. 

Many  drawings  were  made,  and  finally  plans  were 
so  far  perfected  that  he  considered  it  reasonably  pru- 
dent to  build  a  machine. 


THE  MACHINE  IN  THE  HERMANN  BREWERY.  65 

It  was  ordered  and  constructed  in  1878.  When  com- 
pleted it  was  placed  in  position  in  the  Hermann  Brew- 
ery, and  put  in  operation.  Tests  were  made  to  prove 
its  efficiency,  and  after  many  days  of  anxious  labor  in 
this  direction,  he  was  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
time,  money,  and  thought  had  been  expended  to  very 
little  purpose.  The  pump  would  compress  no  greater 
percentage  of  gas  than  those  previously  made,  conse- 
quently would  perform  no  more  work,  and  the  experi- 
ment was  finally  abandoned. 

Mr.  De  La  Vergne  not  being  satisfied  to  let  the  mat- 
ter rest  here,  after  some  weeks  of  thought  and  consul- 
tation, determined  to  devise,  and,  if  possible,  to  put  in 
operation,  another  machine  which  would  avoid  and 
overcome  the  difficulties  encountered  in  the  first  at- 
tempt. New  plans  were  accordingly  made,  and  an- 
other machine  built. 

This  second  machine  was  finished  and  set  in  opera- 
tion at  the  Hermann  Brewery  in  1880,  where  it  com- 
menced at  once  to  do  efficient  work,  and  demonstrated 
that  it  was  a  success.  The  expansion-pipes  were  then 
placed  in  position  throughout  the  brewery,  and  it  was 
artificially  refrigerated  to  better  advantage  than  previ- 
ously done  by  the  use  of  7,000  tons  of  natural  ice. 

Since  that  time  this  machine  has  completely  taken 
the  place  of  ice,  and  now  cools,  in  an  efficient  and  prac- 
tical manner,  over  175,000  cubic  feet  of  space,  and  300 
barrels  of  wort  per  diem,  proving  itself  as  reliable  as 
and  much  more  efficient  than  natural  ice. 

The  only  defect  developed  in  this  machine  was  in 


66         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

the  crank-shaft,  which  was  not  made  strong-  enough, 
and  had  too  many  cranks  on  it.  However,  it  held  for 
the  first  year;  the  second  year  it  was  somewhat 
strengthened,  but  during1  the  winter  of  1882  anew  shaft 
was  substituted  of  sufficient  size  and  strength,  and  sep- 
arated into  two  parts  similar  to  those  we  are  now  put 
ting1  in  our  most  improved  machines.  With  this  im- 
provement, this  first  machine  is  now  as  successful,  and 
performs  what  is  required  of  it  as  perfectly,  as  any 
steam-engine.  The  pumps  have  never  been  rebored  or 
repaired,  and  the  tool  marks  on  the  inside  of  the  cylin- 
ders are  not  even  worn  off. 

Two  of  the  pumps  are  found  ample  to  do  the  work, 
and  in  the  six  miles  of  pipe  attached  to  the  machine  and 
filled  with  ammonia  under  pressure,  not  one  single  leak 
is  found. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  statements  that 
the  above  machine  was  no  inspiration  in  its  develop- 
ment, but  was  worked  up  little  by  little  to  its  present 
state  of  perfection. 


ECONOMY  OF  OUR  SYSTEM, 


IN  the  first  edition  of  this  catalogue  we  have  enumer- 
ated the  results  obtained  by  us  in  space  cooled  per 
pound  of  coal  consumed,  and  have  also  quoted  analo- 
gous results  in  breweries  cooled  with  other  machines 
than  ours.  While  ours  at  that  time  were  from  58  to 
69.5  cubic  feet  cooled  per  pound  of  coal  burnt  per  diem, 


ECONOMY  OF  OUR  SYSTEM.  67 

the  results  of  other  machines  varied  within  between 
37.5  and  49  cubic  feet.  Since  that  time,  however,  we  have, 
in  more  instances  than  one,  run  up  to  120  cubic  feet 
cooled  per  pound  of  coal  burnt  per  diem.  This  has  been 
attained  by  carefully  studying  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions of  evaporating-  pressure,  length  and  arrange- 
ment of  pipe-coils,  etc.,  and  we  believe  that,  regarding 
these  things,  we  have  completely  mastered  the  subject; 
at  least,  we  cannot  at  this  time  see  in  what  respect  we 
could  improve  these  conditions.  Practical  results  agree 
so  remarkably  well  with  the  theory,  that  we  know  we 
are  right. 

COOLING  OF  ABATTOIRS  AND  PACKING- 
HOUSES. 

As  was  the  case  in  breweries,  we  had  to  overcome 
the  same,  prejudice  in  abattoirs  regarding  our  direct  ex- 
pansion system.  Packers  were  even  a  little  more  afraid 
to  introduce  the  direct  pipe-system  into  their  chill-rooms 
than  brewers  were  to  put  it  in  their  fermenting-rooms. 
We  have,  however,  made  considerable  progress  also  as 
to  the  industry  that  deals  with  the  preservation  of 
meat;  and  as  we  have  no  failure  or  accident  to  record 
since  we  introduced  our  system  into  packing-houses 
eight  years  ago,  confidence  in  it  is  now  well  established. 

It  will  be  of  interest  in  order  to  allay  the  fears  of  the 
influence  of  ammonia  on  fresh  meats  to  quote  an  article 
on  this  subject  published  in  the  issue  of  The  Scientific 
American  of  July  20,  1889.  The  article  is  as  follows: 


68          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO, 

AMMONIA  AS  AN  ANTISEPTIC. 

SOME  years  ago  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Medical  Society,  called  attention  to  the  antiputrescent  properties  of  am- 
monia, and  showed  that  blood,  milk,  and  other  alterable  liquids  could  be 
preserved  for  a  long  time  by  adding  to  them  certain  quantities  of  solu- 
tion of  ammonia  and  solid  substances,  such  as  flesh,  by  keeping  them  in 
closed  vessels  filled  with  ammonia  gas.  Some  doubts  that  would  ap- 
pear to  have  been  raised  as  to  the  results  reported,  on  the  ground  that 
ammonia  was  itself  a  product  of  decomposition,  induced  Dr.  Gottbrecht, 
of  the  University  of  Greifswald,  to  repeat  the  experiments  with  the  re- 
sult of  practically  confirming  all  Dr.  Richardson's  statements.  After 
some  preliminary  experiments,  in  which  animal  matter  placed  in  5% 
ammonia  solution  was  found  free  from  putrescence  after  nearly  two 
years,  ammonium  carbonate  was  used  in  place  of  the  free  alkali  for 
the  sake  of  convenience.  The  first  experiment  made  with  the  washed  in- 
testines of  freshly  killed  pigs  showed  the  power  of  ammonium  carbonate 
to  retard  putrefaction  to  be  directly  dependent  upon  the  concentration 
of  the  solution,  a  i%  solution  retarding  it  until  the  third  day,  a  10% 
solution  until  about  the  sixtieth  day.  When  added  to  gelatine  in 
which  putrefaction  had  already  been  set  up  by  inoculation,  it  was  found 
that  a  5%  solution  so  modified  the  conditions  that  the  putrescence 
ceased,  and  a  2j^%  solution  inhibited  the  development  of  bacteria, 
so  that  the  liquefaction  of  the  gelatine  was  practically  stopped.  Other 
experiments  showed  that  in  an  atmosphere  impregnated  with  ammonium 
carbonate  meat  could  be  kept  for  six  months,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
time  remain  nearly  unaltered. 

The  two  cuts,  Plates  19  and  20,  represent  two  differ- 
ent arrangements  of  our  pipe-coils — the  one  as  applied 
to  the  chilling  of  beeves,  the  other  arranged  in  a  sepa- 
rate chamber  overhead  for  the  chilling  of  hogs.  Where 
we  can  command  the  room,  we  prefer  the  second  plan. 
It  affords  an  excellent  circulation  of  air,  and  keeps  the 
room  free  from  mist  when  the  hot  meat  goes  into  it. 

We  are  always  prepared  to  furnish  any  information 
desired  by  parties  contemplating  artificial  refrigeration, 
also  plans  or  sketches  of  abattoirs  free  of  charge,  and 
we  solicit  correspondence  on  the  subject. 


PLATE  19.— Beef  Chill  Room. 


THE  MANUFA  CTURE  OF  ICE.  69 


THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  ICE. 


ON  the  first  pages  of  this  catalogue  we  gave  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  different  inventions  made  in  the  first  half 
of  this  century,  the  purpose  of  which  was  the  artificial 
production  of  ice.  After  Twining's  first  success,  in  1855, 
very  little  progress  was  made  for  many  years.  Euro- 
pean machines,  especially  Carre's  absorption  machine, 
were  brought  into  New  Orleans  about  ten  years  later, 
and  it  was  twenty  years  after  Twining  when  the  am- 
monia compression  machines  of  the  present  day  were 
introduced  into  our  industries  for  the  purpose  of  ice- 
making,  as  well  as  for  the  refrigeration  of  breweries. 

To  the  great  success  of  the  brewing  industry  in  the 
United  States  is  due  the  rapid  introduction  of  the  am- 
monia compression  machines  for  purposes  of  air-cooling. 
Here  was  a  field  which  offered  great  temptations  for 
improvements,  and  the  result  was  the  perfection  of  the 
gas-compressor  with  all  its  other  appurtenances  for  the 
economical  and  reliable  handling  of  the  gas.  This  part 
of  the  apparatus  having  once  obtained  a  high  degree  of 
utility,  and  having  found  a  regular  market  in  establish- 
ments requiring  cold  rooms,  the  next  step  forward  was 
the  application  of  the  ammonia  compressor  to  the  pur- 
pose of  ice-making. 

During  the  last  three  decades  almost  innumerable 
patents  have  been  taken  out,  all  of  which  had  in  view 
improvements  in  the  mode  of  freezing  water  for  the 


7<D         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

market.  One  great  drawback  to  making  clear,  trans- 
parent ice  was,  right  in  the  beginning,  found  to  be  the 
air,  which  all  water  of  nature  contains  in  solution.  As 
soon  as  such  water  begins  to  freeze  it  eliminates  the  air 
in  the  shape  of  minute  bubbles.  If  the  process  of  freez- 
ing is  rapid,  these  small  bubbles  are  trapped  in  the  ice 
forming,  thus  rendering  the  latter  opaque.  While  thereby 
the  purity  of  the  ice  is  not  impared,  still  its  appearance 
makes  it  unsalable,  and  it  melts  considerably  faster 
than  the  transparent  article.  If  the  freezing  takes  place 
at  a  temperature  above  twenty-four  degrees  the  ice  is  per- 
fectly clear  on  the  outside,  but  the  centre  of  a  block  thus 
frozen  contains  a  large  porous  core,  in  which  nearly  all 
the  air  of  the  water  which  it  held  before  freezing  accu- 
mulates. 

Many  attempts  at  improvements  in  the  freezing  pro- 
cess of  water  have  had  for  their  object  the  making  of 
transparent  ice,  others  have  aimed  at  shortening  the  time 
of  freezing,  but  on  the  whole  it  may  be  asserted  that 
the  progress  made  cannot  be  compared  to  that  which 
has  attended  the  improvements  in  the  gas-compressing 
and  evaporating  process,  and  much  may  yet  be  accom- 
plished in  that  line. 


DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  ICE-MAKING. 


IN  the  applications  of  a  machine  for  making  ice  it 
seems  that  this  art  may  aptly  be  divided  into  two  grand 
systems,  the  one  using  brine  for  the  purpose  of  freezing 


DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  ICE-MAKING. 


water,  the  other  effecting  the  freezing  by  direct  expan- 
sion ;  the  same  as  in  refrigerating  plants. 

It  is  clear,  that  it  avoids  a  great  deal  of  superfluous 
apparatus,  of  loss  in  efficiency,  and  of  untidiness,  if  the 
cooling  or  freezing  is  done  directly  without  the  inter- 
polation of  brine.  Experimenters  have  for  this  reason 
tried  to  do  away  with  brine  in  ice-making,  as  it  has  been 
abolished  in  the  refrigeration  of  rooms.  But  here  much 
greater  obstacles  have  been  met  than  in  cooling-plants. 
Given  a  good  pipe-system,  and  refrigeration  by  direct 
expansion  has  no  difficulties  whatsoever.  Where,  how- 
ever, water  has  to  be  solidified,  the  first  drawback  met 
is  the  necessity  of  straight  surfaces.  A  wrought-iron 
pipe  of  no  excessive  diameter  is  the  safest  and  cheapest 
means  of  confining  ammoniacal  gas,  but  if  ice  is  formed 
around  pipes  it  becomes  a  matter  of  great  wastefulness 
and  trouble  to  loosen  it  again  from  the  pipes.  Straight 
surfaces  are  very  difficult  to  construct  and  to  keep  tight, 
and  all  attempts  to  do  this  have  been  failures  so  far. 
Another  proposition  to  freeze  water  without  the  use  of 
brine  has  been  to  imitate  nature,  viz.,  to  produce  tem- 
peratures below  the  freezing-point  in  well  -insulated 
rooms.  But  here  the  low  specific  heat  of  air  and  its  low 
degree  of  conductibility  proved  such  a  great  obstacle 
that  the  cooling  surfaces  of  the  rooms  had  to  be  made 
excessively  large,  and  still  the  result  was  extremely  slow 
freezing.  Still  another  form  of  ice-machine  is  one  which 
freezes  the  water  in  vacua  without  the  use  of  either 
brine  or  any  other  agent  than  the  water  itself.  If  water 
is  exposed  to  an  almost  absolute  vacuum  it  turns  rapidly 


72          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

into  vapor,  the  transformation  requiring  so  much  heat, 
which  is  furnished  by  the  water  itself,  that  the  balance 
of  the  water  which  is  not  vaporized  freezes  solid.  The 
ice  thus  formed,  however,  is  totally  unfit  for  the  market, 
being  in  the  shape  of  granulated  snow,  full  of  air,  brittle, 
and  of  no  durability.  This  process  was  first  proposed 
and  introduced  for  the  freezing  of  carafes  by  E.  Carre 
(not  the  inventor  of  the  absorption-machine),  and  after- 
wards carried  out  on  a  large  scale  by  F.  Windhausen  in 
Germany  in  his  vacuum  ice-machine.  The  system,  how- 
ever, was  not  a  successful  one,  partly  on  account  of  the 
poor  quality  of  the  ice,  partly  because  the  sulphuric  acid, 
which  was  used  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  air-pump  to  carry 
away  the  aqueous  vapor  by  absorption,  caused  great 
trouble  in  its  process  of  recondensation. 

The  small  success  which  attended  all  the  attempts 
at  ice-making  without  brine  brought  inventors  back  to 
the  use  of  brine,  and  the  different  processes  of  to-day  all 
use  this  otherwise  undesirable  commodity. 

In  its  application  the  system  of  making  ice  by  the 
use  of  brine  is  quite  varied,  but  on  the  whole  three  dif- 
ferent modes  have,  up  to  this  day,  established  them- 
selves in  the  market. 

First.  The  system  of  removable  cans. 

Second.  The  plate  system. 

Third.  The  system  of  stationary  cells. 

The  first  is  the  one  most  in  use  the  world  over.  In 
an  iron  or  wooden  tank,  well  insulated,  a  salt-brine  is 
kept  at  a  temperature  considerably  below  the  freezing 
point  of  water  by  evaporating-coils,  which  are  connect- 


DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  ICE-MAKING.  73 

ed  to  the  gas  pump,  if  the  machine  is  a  compression 
machine,  or  to  the  absorber  if  the  machine  is  an  absorp- 
tion machine.  In  the  brine  galvanized  iron  cans  are 
immersed.  They  contain  the  water  to  be  frozen,  and  it 
is  evident  that  in  the  course  of  time  a  coating  of  ice 
will  form  on  the  bottom  and  on  the  sides  of  the  cans, 
and  that  after  sufficient  time  has  elapsed  a  solid  block 
of  ice  will  thus  be  produced  in  each  can.  One  can  after 
another  is  now  lifted  out  of  the  brine — or  freezing-tank, 
dipped  into  or  sprinkled  with  tepid  water,  whereby  the 
ice  is  loosened  from  the  can  and  the  block  slipped  out, 
the  can  again  filled  with  fresh  water  and  replaced  in  its 
position  in  the  tank,  where  the  freezing  is  again  taken 
up.  Thus  a  continuous  process  is  established,  which  per- 
mits of  a  regular  output  throughout  the  day  and  night. 
In  the  plate-system,  which  as  a  rule  produces  ice  in 
pieces  weighing  one  or  more  tons,  a  hollow  plate  of 
boiler-iron  is  formed  and  immersed  in  a  tank  containing 
fresh  water  to  be  frozen.  This  plate  is  filled  with  brine, 
which  is  kept  below  the  freezing-point  by  evaporating- 
coils  in  a  manner  similar  to  those  of  the  can-system. 
The  coils  may  be  either  in  the  plates  or  outside  in  a 
separate  brine  tank,  and  the  brine  circulated  through  the 
plate.  By  thus  keeping  the  plate  at  a  sufficiently  low 
temperature,  ice  will  form  on  both  sides  of  it,  and  by  and 
by  two  layers  of  ice  will  be  built  up  on  the  two  sides  of 
the  plate.  In  order  to  remove  this  ice,  the  cold  brine  is 
drawn  from  the  plates,  and  in  case  the  evaporating-coils 
are  inside  of  the  plates  the  circulation  of  ammonia  in 
them  is  stopped.  Now  tepid  brine  is  supplied  to  the 


74         THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE  CO. 

hollow  plates  and  after  a  short  while  the  ice  is  loosened 
from  them  and  can  be  hoisted  out  of  the  tank  by  means 
of  cranes,  and  cut  up  into  blocks  of  any  desired  size.  A 
number  of  plates  are,  as  a  rule,  immersed  in  each  tank 
and  a  whole  tank  emptied  at  one  time.  In  order  to  make 
the  process  continuous,  more  than  one  tank  must  be 
supplied,  so  that  one  at  least  is  in  continuous  operation, 
while  the  other  is  being  emptied  and  refilled  and  pre- 
pared again  for  work.  But  on  larger  plants  even  more 
than  two  tanks  are  necessary  to  permit  of  a  daily  draw- 
ing of  ice.  The  freezing  process  going  on  from  one  side 
only,  i.  e.,  a  certain  thickness  of  ice  being  formed  by 
building  up  only  on  one  side,  the  time  of  freezing  is 
necessarily  long.  In  a  can,  ice  is  formed  on  two  opposite 
sides,  and  the  two  surfaces,  growing  together  in  the  cen- 
tre, will  ultimately  make  a  solid  block  equal  in  thickness 
to  the  width  of  the  can.  If  ice  of  such  thickness  is  made 
on  a.  plate  frozen  only  from  one  side,  it  takes  about 
four  times  as  long.  Nevertheless,  the  plate  system  has 
certain  advantages,  to  which  we  will  recur  later  on. 

In  the  system  using  stationary  cells  the  cold  brine  is 
pumped  through  the  hollow  walls  of  the  cells,  the  latter 
being  open  at  the  top  and  filled  nearly  brimful  with  the 
fresh  water  to  be  frozen.  Ice  will  form  in  the  cells  the 
same  as  in  the  can  system.  After  the  blocks  are  finished 
in  the  cells,  tepid  brine  is  pumped  in  place  of  the  cold 
brine,  and  thereby  the  ice  loosened  from  the  cells,  and 
its  removal  becomes  a  matter  of  little  time.  It  is  self- 
evident  that  in  this  system  a  whole  tank  has  to  be 
emptied  at  the  same  time,  as  in  the  plate  system,  and  to 


DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  ICE-MAKING.  75 

make  the  plant  continuous  in  its  operation,  more  than 
one  tank  has  to  be  employed.  If  the  cells  are  made 
quite  deep  in  proportion  to  their  width,  similar  to  the 
cans  used  in  the  can  system,  then  of  course  the  freezing- 
time  is  as  fast  as  in  the  system  first  described.  But  if 
shallow  cells,  pan-shape,  are  used,  the  depth  being  small 
in  proportion  to  length  and  width,  then  the  freezing 
will  practically  be  done  mostly  from  the  bottom,  and 
for  the  same  thickness  of  ice  the  time  of  freezing  will 
be  quadrupled  as  in  the  plate  system.  There  is  an  ob- 
ject in  using  either  the  deep  or  the  shallow  cell,  as  will 
be  shown  later  on. 

Transparent  Ice. — In  the  beginning  of  the  industry 
of  ice-making,  many  manufacturers  were  satisfied  with 
producing  an  article  regardless  of  quality.  Therefore 
no  special  pains  were  taken  to  make  transparent  ice,  but 
by  and  by  the  demands  for  a  better  product  were  made. 
At  first,  freezing  at  comparatively  high  temperatures  was 
resorted  to,  by  which  at  least  one  part  of  the  block  be- 
comes clear.  But  then  the  time  of  freezing  was  so  slow, 
and  it  took  a  large  number  of  cans  and  large  tanks,  and 
the  first  cost  of  the  plant  came  to  be  high,  and  there- 
fore means  were  tried  to  make  the  ice  faster,  freezing  it 
at  lower  temperatures,  and  still  making  it  clear. 

Quite  a  number  of  inventions  were  made  to  obtain 
this  object,  all  of  which  were  more  or  less  successful. 
One  thing  was  soon  discovered:  that  clear  ice  could  be 
produced  by  agitating  the  water  during  the  process  of 
freezing,  and  the  different  propositions  to  accomplish 
this  are  quite  numerous.  A  metal  bar  was  let  into  the 


76          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

can  and  lifted  up  and  down  by  a  small  revolving  shaft 
and  thumb,  or  a  crank;  or  a  wooden  paddle  was  inserted 
into  the  can  and  moved  to  and  fro  by  some  kind  of 
mechanism;  or  a  small  perforated  pipe  was  introduced 
into  the  can  within  a  few  inches  from  the  bottom  and  a 
current  of  cold  air  forced  through  the  pipe,  rising-  in 
bubbles  through  the  water  and  emerging  at  the  top, 
thereby  producing  a  circulation  in  the  can.  All  of  these 
arrangements  had  the  disadvantage  that,  at  the  end  of 
the  operation  of  making  the  ice-block,  the  bar,  paddle, 
or  pipe  had  to  be  removed  to  prevent  being  frozen  into 
the  ice,  while  otherwise  the  effect  was  good.  Another 
proposition  was  to  rock  the  can  in  the  tank,  thus  agitat- 
ing the  water.  None  of  these  different  arrangements, 
however,  found  favor  in  practical  use.  The  moving 
gear  for  many  hundreds,  even  thousands,  of  cans  proved 
quite  cumbersome.  In  removing  the  cans  from  the 
tank,  this  gear  was  in  the  way,  and  had  likewise  to  be 
removed,  and  on  the  whole  few,  and  comparatively 
small,  plants  have  adopted  either  one  system. 

The  plate  system  and  the  shallow  stationary  cells 
alone  avoided  the  agitation  of  the  water,  and  yet  pro- 
duced clear  ice.  But  the  freezing  taking  place  only 
from  one  side,  the  process  was  so  slow  and  the  plants 
became  so  large  and  expensive,  that  these  systems  also 
have  found  few  users. 

Another  mode  of  making  transparent  ice  is  to  de- 
prive the  water  of  its  air  before  it  goes  into  the  cans. 
This  can  be  done  by  long-continued  boiling,  or  by  ex- 
posing the  water  to  a  high  vacuum;  but  better  still  by 


DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  ICE-MAKING. 


77 


distillation  under  exclusion  of  the  atmosphere.  The  re- 
sult of  this  process  has  been  found  extremely  satis- 
factory, and  is  to-day  the  one  most  in  use.  In  order  to 
economize  in  fuel,  however,  it  has  been  found  necessary 
to  use  the  exhaust  steam  from  the  engine  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ice-making,  and  the  steam  therefore  had  to  be 
deprived  of  the  oil  used  in  lubricating  the  steam  cylin- 
der. This  has  effectually  been  accomplished  by  steam- 
filters  of  very  simple  construction.  After  condensation 
of  the  steam  thus  filtered,  the  condensed  water  is  again 
filtered  in  order  to  entirely  deodorize  it.  As  a  result 
can-ice  produced  in  this  manner  is  as  good  as  ice  can  be 
made.  It  contains  but  a  very  thin  stratum  of  porous 
ice  in  the  centre,  due  to  reabsorption  of  air  in  the  can 
during  freezing,  but  it  is  better  and  purer,  and  more 
durable  than  any  natural  ice  which  can  be  bought.  The 
ice  is  obtained  in  rectangular  blocks  of  any  desired  size, 
and  the  waste  by  melting  the  ice  of  the  moulds  reduced 
to  a  minimum. 

The  constantly  increasing  demand  for  "  hygienic  " 
ice  brings  the  necessity  of  artificial  ice  more  and  more 
in  the  foreground,  and  this  circumstance,  together  with 
the  fact  that  such  ice  can  be  produced  economically,  has 
resulted  in  the  great  impetus  which  the  establishing  of 
ice-factories  is  now  receiving.  The  constantly  increas- 
ing contamination  of  the  water  sources  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  large  cities,  from  which  ice  is  harvested,  brings 
with  it  great  dangers  to  the  health  of  the  communities, 
and  the  sanitary  boards  of  cities  and  health-resorts  have 
of  late  given  the  question  of  ice  consumption  consider- 
able attention. 


78          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  DE  LA  VERGNE  ICE- 
MAKING  PLANT. 

IN  the  appended  woodcut,  Plate  2 1,  the  arrangement  of 
our  ice-making  plant  is  shown,  the  whole  spread  out  on 
one  sheet  to  facilitate  following  the  circulation  of  the 
ammonia,  the  oil,  the  steam,  etc.,  without  being  com- 
pelled to  refer  to  different  views,  whereby  the  layman  is 
easily  misled.  It  will  be  understood  that  the  different 
parts  may  be  placed  in  relatively  different  positions  to 
each  other  as  long  as  the  principle  of  the  system  is  not 
thereby  disturbed. 

Let  us  first  follow  the  circulation  of  the  ammonia 
through  the  system  and  learn  how  the  cold  is  produced 
which  ultimately  freezes  the  water : 

We  will  begin  at  the  compressor,  which  is  shown  to 
be  a  double-acting  one  and  marked  A.  On  the  right- 
hand  side  the  gas  is  drawn  from  the  evaporating-coils 
through  the  suction  pipe  B.  By  the  action  of  the  com- 
pressor the  gas  is  discharged  through  the  pipe  C  into 
the  pressure  tank  D,  where  the  oil,  which  we  will  follow 
later  on,  is  dropped  to  the  bottom.  The  upper  half  of 
this  tank  is  provided  with  cast-iron  baffle-plates,  which 
serve  to  more  completely  retain  the  oil  and  lodge  it  in 
the  bottom.  From  the  tank  the  gas,  still  hot  by  its  com- 
pression, is  sent  through  the  pipe  E  into  the  bottom  pipe 
of  the  condenser  F,  where,  by  the  action  of  cold  water 


THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  ICE-MAKING  PLANT.  Jg 

running  over  the  pipes,  the  hot  gas  is  first  cooled  and 
then  liquefied.  The  small  liquid  pipes  G  conduct  the 
liquid  ammonia  through  the  liquid  leader  H  into  the 
storage  tank  /,  and  from  there  is  run  through  the  pipe 
J  into  the  bottom  of  the  separating-tank  K,  which 
should  be  at  all  times  at  least  three-fourths  full.  The 
small  pipe  L  carries  the  liquid  ammonia,  in  consequence 
of  the  pressure  on  it,  to  the  expansion  cock  My  through 
which  it  is  injected  into  the  evaporating  coils  N,  placed 
in  the  freezing  tank  O.  This  tank  contains  a  salt  brine 
noncongealable  except  at  a  temperature  near  zero,  and 
by  the  absorption  of  heat  from  this  brine  the  ammonia 
in  vaporizing  cools  it  down  to  a  temperature  below  32°, 
say  17°  or  18°.  Of  the  coils  N,  there  are  a  number  side 
by  side,  leaving  space  enough  between  them  to  insert 
the  galvanized-iron  ice-cans  P,  which  contain  the  water 
to  be  frozen.  After  evaporating  in  the  coils  N,  and 
thereby  having  taken  up  its  quotum  of  heat  from  the 
brine,  the  ammonia  gas  now  passes  through  the  pipes  Q 
and  B  back  into  the  compressor  from  which  we  started. 
This  is  the  entire  cycle  through  "which  the  ammonia 
passes. 

In  the  description  of  our  compressor  on  page  32  we 
mentioned  our  patented  system  of  oil-circulation.  This 
we  will  now  take  up. 

We  found  that  the  oil  heated  with  the  gas  by  com- 
pression was  dropped  into  the  bottom  of  tank  D.  From 
there  it  passes  through  the  pipe  a  to  the  lowest  pipe  of 
the  oil-cooler  b,  similar  in  construction  to  the  condenser, 
and,  like  it,  cooled  by  cold  water  showered  over  it. 


8o          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

After  being"  cooled  down  in  the  oil-cooler,  it  passes 
through  pipe  c,  strainer  d,  and  pipe  e  into  the  oil- 
pump  ft  which  is  so  constructed  that  it  distributes  the 
cold  oil  into  the  compressor  on  either  side  of  the  piston 
during  its  compression  stroke,  i.  e.,  in  such  a  manner 
that  no  oil  is  furnished  during  the  suction  stroke  of  the 
piston,  but  only  during  the  time  of  compressing,  there- 
by cooling  the  gas  during  its  period  of  heating.  The 
hot  oil  after  leaving  the  compressor  now  returns  again 
in  company  of  the  hot  gas  to  tank  D,  and  from  there 
again  enters  on  its  course  through  the  oil-cooler,  strainer, 
and  oil-pump  to  the  compressor. 

It  will  be  seen  that  both  the  ammonia  and  oil  go 
through  complete  cycles,  and  that  no  waste  of  either 
will  occur  except  by  leakage.  In  case,  however,  small 
traces  of  oil  are  carried  along  with  the  current  of  the 
gas  from  the  pressure  tank  D  into  the  condenser  F,  these 
small  quantities  flow  along  with  the  liquid  ammonia  into 
the  separating  tank  K,  where  they  collect  at  the  bottom, 
the  oil  being  heavier  than  liquid  ammonia.  When  a 
certain  amount  of  oil  has  collected  here  it  can  be  drawn 
off  through  the  cock  g  and  pipe  h*  and  carried  through 
the  oil-cooler  back  into  the  oil-pump  and  compressor. 

The  steam  from  the  steam  cylinder,  marked  R,  passes 
through  the  exhaust  pipe  S  into  the  steam-filter  and 
condenser  T,  where  it  is  purified  and  condensed.  Out 
of  condenser  T  it  runs  into  the  water  regulator  tank  U, 
from  there  through  the  condensed  water-cooling  coil  V, 
constructed  like  the  ammonia  condenser  and  oil  cooler, 
and  cooled  by  cold  water,  and  is  ultimately  filled  into 


THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  ICE-MAKING  PLANT.  8  I 

the  ice-cans  through  rubber  hose  and  cocks.  After  the 
cans  have  their  contents  frozen,  the  traveling-crane 
transports  them  to  the  dip-tank  or  sprinkler,  where  the 
block  is  melted  out.  The  empty  can  is  put  back  into 
its  position  in  the  freezing-tank,  refilled  with  water,  and 
the  process  of  making  another  block  is  commenced. 


82          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 


OTHER  APPLICATIONS, 

THE  refrigerating  machinery  built  by  us  is  adapted 
to  all  purposes  of  cooling  or  ice-making,  and  can  be  em- 
ployed not  only  by  mammoth  packing  or  brewing 
establishments,  but  by  hospitals,  steamships,  theatres, 
hotels,  markets,  preserving  -  houses,  and  even  private 
houses — in  fact,  in  any  place  where  ice  or  its  equivalent 
has  to  be  used  for  producing  cold. 

In  reading  over  our  list  of  customers,  which  is  found 
in  this  book,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  have  lately  fur- 
nished machines  to  chemical  factories,  and  also  to  a  num- 
ber of  hotels  and  restaurants.  Confectioners,  chocolate 
manufacturers,  steamships,  and  wineries  have  their 
representatives  in  the  list,  and  the  field  of  application 
is  constantly  growing.  The  testimonial  of  the  managers 
of  the  first  hotel  we  fitted  up  is  proof  enough  of  the 
satisfaction  it  gives,  and  we  feel  confident  that  a  call  at 
the  Murray  Hill  Hotel,  in  New  York,  by  anyone  directly 
interested  in  the  management  of  a  hotel  or  large  club- 
house, cannot  fail  to  convince  him  that  mechanical 
refrigeration  is  a  success  for  this  class  of  establishments 
as  well  as  for  breweries  and  packing-houses. 

To  the  eight  original  patents  under  which  we  com- 
menced to  build  our  machines  a  large  number  has  been 
added  by  purchase,  and  we  shall  protect  our  rights  in 


OTHER  APPLICATIONS.  83 

them,  and  the  rights  of  our  customers  to  use  them, 
whenever  necessity  arises. 

In  conclusion,  permit  us  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  a  fact  which  has,  without  question,  been  proven 
by  the  experience  of  manufacturers  and  users  of  ma- 
chinery, that  is,  '4  that  cheap  machinery  is  dear  at  any 
price." 

Too  often  the  purchase-money  is  simply  the  first  in- 
stalment paid,  and  the  constantly  accumulating  expense 
for  repairs,  in  many  cases,  exceeds  in  the  aggregate, 
the  first  cost. 

It  would,  indeed,  be  fortunate  if  this  were  the  only 
disadvantage  under  which  the  purchaser  of  cheap  ma- 
chinery labors  ;  but  there  is  scarcely  a  person  who  has 
had  extended  experience  with  cheap  machinery  who  will 
not  testify  to  the  additional  fact  that  the  loss  occasioned 
by  the  imperfect  working  or  the  disarrangment  of  such 
machinery,  to  say  nothing  of  aggravating  and  vexatious 
delays,  is  of  vastly  greater  importance  than  the  money 
wasted  in  the  purchase  and  repairs  of  the  inferior  ma- 
chinery. 

There  are  none  who  can  more  fully  appreciate  the 
truthfulness  of  this  declaration  than  those  who  have  had 
the  misfortune  to  own  unsuccessful  refrigerating  plants. 

In  this  particular  line  it  is  positively  imperative  that 
every  part  of  the  apparatus,  even  the  smallest  and  appar- 
ently the  most  insignificant  attachment,  shall  be  made 
with  the  utmost  skill  and  care. 

Our  experience  in  the  construction  of  successful  ma- 
chinery, adapted  for  purposes  of  refrigeration,  has  ex- 


84          THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 

tended  over  a  period  of  eleven  years,  and  we  fully  believe 
that  such  machinery  cannot  be  too  well  or  too  carefully 
built.  We  regard  the  policy  which  encourages  the 
construction  of  what  is  known  as  "  cheap  machinery," 
particularly  for  this  purpose,  as  suicidal  in  the  extreme, 
and  one  which  will  positively  recoil  upon  the  builder  and 
destroy  both  his  business  and  his  reputation.  For  these 
reasons  we  have  determined  to  build  nothing  but  the 
best,  and  shall  spare  neither  pains  nor  expense  to  ac- 
complish the  end  we  have  in  view,  which  is  to  supply 
our  customers  with  a  machine  that  is  absolutely  reliable 
at  all  times  and  under  all  conditions. 

The  first  cost  may  be  in  excess  of  that  of  some  ma- 
chines in  the  market,  but  our  machines  do  the  work  re- 
quired of  them,  and  not  in  a  single  instance  has  one  of 
them  failed  to  do  all,  and  more  than  it  was  guaranteed 
to  do,  and  to  give  satisfaction  to  its  owner. 

The  true  value  of  an  investment  is  to  be  estimated 
by  the  satisfaction  which  it  gives. 

THE  DE  LA  VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  COMPANY, 
Foot  of  East  1 38th  Street,  New  York. 


SIZES  OF  MACHINES. 


The  sizes  of  machines  for  which  we  now  have  the 
patterns,  and  which  may  be  ordered  from  us  at  any 
time,  are  the  following  : 

MACHINES  WITH  SINGLE-ACTING  COMPRESSORS. 


Compressors. 

Steam 
Cylinders. 

Horse-power 
required. 

Capacity  of  Machines 
in  Ice  Melted 
every  24  hours. 

Capacity  of  Machines 
in  Ice  Manufac- 
tured every 
24  hours. 

One      6  x  10 

One    7  x  10 

3  H.-P. 

2  Tons. 

i    Ton. 

Two     6  x  12 

9  x  12 

6      " 

4         " 

2    Tons. 

8x16 

"      12  X  l6 

13      " 

9       " 

5 

"       g  x  16 

"    13  x  16 

17      " 

12         " 

7        " 

"      10  x  20 

"    16  x  20 

25      " 

18       " 

10        " 

"        12  X  24 

"    18  x  24 

47      " 

35       " 

20           " 

"      14  x  28 

"     22  X  28 

66      " 

50       •' 

30        " 

"      16  x  32 

"    26  x  32 

100 

75 

45 

"      18  x  36 

"    32  x  36 

140      " 

no       '' 

65        " 

MACHINES  WITH  DOUBLE-ACTING  COMPRESSORS. 


Compressors. 

Steam 
Cylinders. 

Horse-power 
required. 

Capacity  of  Machines 
in  Ice  Melted 
every  24  hours. 

Capacity  of  Machines 
in  Ice  Manufac- 
tured every 
24  hours. 

One       6  x  10 

One    9  x  10 

6    H.-P. 

4  Tons. 

2    Tons. 

Two      6  x  12 

"      12  X  12 

12        " 

9 

5 

8x16 

"     16  x  16 

23        " 

18       " 

10           " 

9  x  18 

"     18  x  18 

3i       " 

25 

15 

"        IO  X  20 

"      20  X  20 

42       " 

35       " 

20        " 

"        II   X  22 

"      22  X  22 

60      " 

50 

30 

"        12  X  24 

11    24  x  24 

77      " 

65 

40 

"      14  x  28 

"     28  x  28 

119      " 

100       " 

60 

"      16  x  32 

"  32x32 

1  80       " 

150       " 

90 

"      18x36 

"    36  x  36 

250      " 

220       " 

130 

The  above  capacities   are   based   on  40  revolutions 
per  minute. 


LIST    OK    CUSTOMERS. 


January   1,  189O. 

The  De  La  Vergne  Refrigerating  Machine  Co., 

Foot  of  East  I38th  Street,   NEW  YORK  CITY. 


BREWERIES. 

Number  of  Total  Year  of 

Name.  Address.  Machines.       Reirigeration.  Completion. 

Jacob  Ruppert New  York One    i lo-ton .  .  ==i  10  tons .  .  1 884 


Jacob  Ruppert — Second  Order  .  .  .  .New  York Two  no  '  .  .  220 

George  Ehret New  York One  no  '  ..  no 

George  Ehret — Second  Order New  York Two  no  '  .  .  220 

William  J.  Lemp St.  Louis,   Mo Two  no  '  .  .  220 

William  J.  Lemp — Second  Order.  ..St.  Louis,   Mo One  110  '  ..  no 

Bernheimer  &  Schmid New  York One  220  '  .  .  220 

f  Anheuser-Busch  Brewing  Ass'n. .  .St.  Louis,   Mo One  no  '  ..  no 


..1885 
..1885 
..1885 
..1888 
. .1889 
. .1888 
..1886 


Anheuser-Busch   Brewing  Ass'n — 

Second  Order. Kansas  City,  Mo  ..  .One  12   "  ..  12  "     ..1886 

fAnheuser-Busch   Brewing  Ass'n — 

Third  Order St.  Louis,   Mo One  no  "  .  .  no  "     .  .1189 

Anheuser-Busch   Brewing    Ass'n — 

Fourth  Order Dallas,  Texas. One  4"  ..  4  "     ..1889 

(For  Fifth  and  Sixth   orders  from   Anheuser-Busch    Brewing  Association,  see  Artificial 

Ice  Plants.) 

Budweiser  Brewing  Co. ,  Lim'd.  ..  Brooklyn,  N.  Y One  no  "  ..  no  "     ..1886 

*L.  Schlather  Brewing  Co Cleveland,  Ohio.  ..  .One  no  "  ..  no  "     ..1888 

Hinckel  Brewing  Co Albany,   N.  Y One  100  "  ..  100  "     ..1889 

Joseph  Schlitz   Brewing  Co. — First 

Order Memphis,  Tenn One  4  "  ..  4  "     ..1886 

Joseph   Schlitz   Brewing  Co. — Sec- 
ond Order Milwaukee,  Wis. .  .  .One  100  "  .  .  100  "     .  .1890 

Eberhardt  &  Ober  Brewing  Co.  .  .  .Pittsburgh,  Pa One  100  "  .  .  100  "     .  .1890 

fHyde  Park  Brewery  Co St.  Louis,  Mo One  75"  ..  75  "     ..1886 

fPabst  Brewing  Co Milwaukee,  Wis.  ..  .One  75"  ..  75  "     ..1886 

*John  Wieland  Brewing  Co San  Francisco,  Cal.  .One  75  "  •  •  75  "     -.1889 

Falk,  Jung  &  Borchert  Brewing  Co. Milwaukee,  WTis.  .  .  .One  75   "  .  .  75  "     .  .1889 

Ballantine  &  Co Newark,  N.  J One  64  "  .  .  64  "     ..1882 

Ballantine  &  Co. — Second  Order  .  .Newark,  N.  J One  no"  ..  no  "     ..1886 

Ballantine  &  Co. — Third  Order..  .  .Newark,  N.  J Two  100  "  .  .  200  "     .  .1890 

fBergner  &  Engel  Brewing  Co Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  .  .One  50  "  . .  50  .  .1884 

fBergner    &  Engel    Brewing    Co. — 

Second  Order Philadelphia,  Pa.  ..  .One  50"  ..  50  "     ..1885 

fBergner  &    Engel    Brewing    Co. — 

Third  Order Philadelphia,  Pa One  no"  ..  no  '      ..1888 

fBartholomay    Brewing  Co Rochester,  N.  Y.  ..  .One  50  "  ..  50  "     ..1886 

Bartholomay  Brewing  Co. — Second 

Order Rochester,  N.  Y Two  50"  ..  100  "     ..1887 

S6 


LIST  OF  CUSTOMERS. 


Number  of 

Total 

Year  of 

Name.                                               Address. 

Machines. 

Refrigeration.  Completion. 

Rochester  Brewing  Co  Rochester,  N.  Y  .  .  . 

.One 

5o-ton.  . 

=   50 

tons.  .1888 

Rochester    Brewing    Co.  —  Second 

Order  Rochester,  N.  Y.  .  . 

.One 

IOO 

"    .  . 

IOO 

11       ..1889 

Z.  Wainwright  Brewing  Co  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  .  .  . 

.Two 

65 

"    .  . 

130 

"       ..1890 

Macon  Brewing  Co  Macon,  Ga  

.Two 

65 

" 

130 

"       ..1890 

S.  Liebmann's  Sons  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.Two 

50 

"    .  . 

IOO 

"       ..I883 

Wainwright  Brewery  Co  St.  Louis,   Mo  

.Two 

50 

"    .  . 

IOO 

"       ..1884 

Rubsam  &  Horrman  Staten  Island  

.Two 

50 

" 

IOO 

".      ..1885 

Conrad  Stein  New  York  

.Two 

50 

"     .  . 

IOO 

"       ..1886 

Beadleston  &  Woerz  New  York  

.Two 

50 

" 

IOO 

"       ..1885 

*Jacob  Hoffmann  Brewing  Co  New  York  

.Two 

50 

" 

IOO 

"       ..1887 

J.  &  P.  Baltz  Brewing  Co  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.Two 

50 

"    .  . 

IOO 

"       ..1887 

Leonhard  Eppig  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 
Crescent  City  Brewing  Co  New  Orleans,  La  .  . 

Two 
.Two 

50 

SO 

« 

IOO 
IOO 

"       ..1887 
14       ..1888 

Louis  Bergdoll  Brewing  Co  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

64 

"    .  . 

64 

"       ..1882 

Louis  Bergdoll  Brewing  Co.  —  Sec- 

ond Order  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.  Two 

50 

« 

IOO 

"       ..I885 

The  Bartholomae  &  Leicht  Brewing 

Co  Chicago,  111  

.Two 

50 

"     .  . 

IOO 

"       ..1889 

Otto  Huber  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  .  .  . 

.Two 

35 

"    .  . 

70 

11     ..1881 

Otto  Huber  —  Second  Order  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

50 

« 

50 

"     ..1885 

Gottfried  Krueger  Newark,  N.  J  

.Two 

35 

"    .  . 

7° 

"     ..1883 

Gottfried   Krueger  —  Second  Order.  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1885 

Burr,  Son  &  Co  New  York  

.Two 

35 

"    .  . 

70 

"     ..1880 

Obermeyer  &  Liebmann  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  .  .  . 

.Two 

35 

" 

70 

"     ..1884 

Peter  Hauck  &  Co  Newark,  N.  J  

.Two 

35 

tt 

70 

"     ..1884 

Christian  Schmidt  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.Two 

35 

"    .  . 

70 

"     ..1885 

fA.  Finck  &  Son  New  York  

.Two 

35 

« 

70 

"     ..1885 

Franz  J.  Kastner  Newark,  N.  J  
Christian  Weyand  Buffalo,  N.  Y  

.Two 
.Two 

35 
35 

« 

70 
70 

"     ..1885 
"     ..1886 

C.  Trefz  Newark,  N.  J  

.Two 

35 

« 

70 

"     ..1886 

J.  H.  Von  der  Horst  &  Son  Baltimore,  Md  

.Two 

35 

' 

70 

"     ..1886 

Monroe  Eckstein  Staten  Island  

.Two 

35 

'    .  . 

70 

11     ..1887 

M.  Groh's  Sons  New  York  

.Two 

35 

' 

70 

'•'     ..1887 

Weckerling  Brewing  Co  New  Orleans,  La.  . 

.Two 

35 

< 

70 

"     ..1888 

Pelican  Brewing  Co  New  Orleans,  La.  . 

.Two 

35 

•    .  . 

70 

"     ..1888 

Frederick  Koehler  &  Co  Erie,  Pa  

.Two 

35 

1 

70 

"     ..1890 

Suffolk  Brewing  Co  Boston,  Mass  

.One 

65 

n 

65 

"     ..1890 

American  Brewing  Co  Chicago,  111  

.One 

65 

"    ,  . 

65 

"     ..1890 

Northwestern  Brewing  Co  Chicago,  111  

.One 

65 

"    .  . 

65 

"     ..1890 

H.  B.  Scharmann  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.One 

50 

« 

50 

"     ..1883 

H.  B.  Scharmann  —  Second  Order.  .Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1888 

Claus  Lipsius  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1883 

Claus  Lipsius  —  Second  Order  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

50 

« 

5° 

"     ..1885 

William  Ulmer  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.... 

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1886 

William  Ulmer     Second  Order  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1886 

H.  &J.  Paff  Boston,  Mass  

.One 

50 

'    .  . 

50 

"     ..1884 

H.  &  J.  Paff—  Second  Order  Boston,  Mass  

.One 

50 

'    .  . 

50 

"     ..1885 

Henry  Muller  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

50 

'    .  . 

50 

"     ..1884 

Henry  Muller  —  Second  Order  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

50 

'    .  . 

50 

"     ..1886 

Ph.  Zang  &  Co  Denver,  Col  

.One 

50 

'    .  . 

50 

"     ..1886 

Ph.  Zang  &  Co     Second  Order  Denver,  Col  

.One 

50 

« 

50 

"     ..1887 

*Jos.  Schnaider's  Brewing  Co.  ....  .St.  Louis,  Mo  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

"     ..1886 

*Jos.  Schnaider's  Brewing  Co.  —  Sec- 

ond Order  St.  Louis,  Mo  

.One 

50 

« 

5o 

.  .1887 

*H.  Grone  Brewery  Co  St.  Louis,  Mo  

.One 

50 

"    .  . 

50 

.  .1886 

*H.    Grone     Brewery    Co.  —  Second 

Order  St.  Louis,  Mo  

.One 

50 

«< 

50 

"     ..1888 

88  THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERATING  MACHINE  CO. 


Number  of             Total               Ye; 

irof 

Name.                                                    Address. 

Machines.       Refrigeration.  Completion. 

Jung  Brewing  Co  Cincinnati,  O  

.One 

5o-ton.  . 

=  50  tons. 

.1886 

Jung  Brewing  Co  —  Second  Order.  .Cincinnati,  O  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50    "     . 

.1886 

Christian  Heurich  Washington,  D.  C  . 

.One 

50  "    ., 

50     ll     . 

.i88s 

John  Roessle  Boston,  Mass  

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50     "     . 

.i88s 

fH.  Clausen  &  Son  Brewing  Co.  .  .  .New  York  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50     ':     . 

.1887 

B.   Stroh  Brewing  Co  Detroit,  Mich  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50     ''     . 

.1887 

Fred.  Miller  Brewing  Co  Milwaukee,  Wis  .  .  . 

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50    ':     . 

.1887 

Fred.  Miller  Brewing   Co.  —  Second 

Order  Milwaukee,  Wis  .  .  . 

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50    "     . 

.1889 

A.  Griesedieck  Brewing  Co  St.  Louis,  Mo  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50     '''     . 

.1888 

*Haffenreffer  &  Co  Boston,  Mass  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50    '. 

.1888 

Valentine  Loewer  New  York  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50    "     . 

.1883 

Ziegele  Brewing  Co  Buffalo,  N.  Y  

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50    <;     . 

.1888 

National  Brewing  Co  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50    "     . 

.1889 

Jacob  Ahles  Brewing  Co  New  York  

.One 

50  "    .. 

50     "     . 

.1889 

Buffalo  Brewing  Co  Sacramento,  Cal  .  .  . 

.One 

50  "    .- 

50    '      . 

.  1889 

(For  second  order  from  Buffalo  Brewing  Co.  ,  see  Artificial  Ice 

Plants.) 

William  Peter  Union  Hill,  N.  J  .  .  . 

.One 

50  "    .. 

50     "     . 

.1890 

D.  M.  Lyon  &  Sons  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

50  "    .  . 

50     '       . 

.1890 

United  States  Brewing  Co  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

.One 

50  "    .- 

50     "     . 

.1890 

Peter  Buckel  ,  New  York  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     <:     . 

.1889 

George  Zett  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35   "    •• 

35     <:     • 

.1889 

Hubert  Fischer  Hartford,  Conn.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "   •• 

35     <:     • 

.1889 

Grasser  &  Brand  Brewing  Co  Toledo,  O  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    ''     • 

.1889 

Ferd.  Munch  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     • 

.1882 

Ferd.  Munch—  Second  Order  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    "     • 

.1884 

Continental  Brewing  Co  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

35   "    •  • 

35     <:     • 

.1883 

Continental    Brewing   Co.  —  Second 

Order  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .. 

.One 

35  "    •  • 

35     "     • 

.1884 

C.  Feigenspan  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     '      . 

.1884 

C.  Feigenspan  —  Second  Order  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     ':     - 

.1886 

Wm.  Hill  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     . 

.1884 

Wm.  Hill     Second  Order  Newark,  N.  J  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     • 

.1886 

Chas.  A.  King  .Boston,  Mass  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     . 

.1884 

J.  Chr.  G.  Hupfel  Brewing  Co  New  York  

.One 

35  "    •- 

35     '      . 

.1886 

J.  Chr.  G.   Hupfel   Brewing   Co.— 

Second  Order  New  York  

.One 

35  "    •- 

35     "     • 

.1887 

Ernst  Bros.  Brewing  Co  Chicago,  111  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    '• 

.1886 

Ernst  Bros.  Brewing   Co.  —  Second 

Order  ,  Chicago,  111  

.One 

35  " 

35     ''     • 

.1887 

*A.  Hupfel's  Son  New  York  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    "     - 

.1886 

*A.  Hupfel's  Son—  Second  Order.  .  .New  York  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    '      • 

.1886 

George  Guenther  Baltimore,  Md  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    ':     • 

.1886 

Germania  Brewing  Co  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •• 

35 

.1886 

W.   G.  Abbott  Brewing  Co  Brooklyn,  N.  Y  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     ':     • 

.1887 

N.  Molter's  Sons  Providence  R.  I,  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •  • 

35     ':     • 

.1887 

fj.  L.  &  W.  L.  Straus  Baltimore,  Md  

.One 

35  "    •  • 

35    '      • 

.1887 

J.  L.  &  W.    L.    Straus—  Second  Or- 

der    Baltimore,  Md.  . 

One 

65  "    .. 

65     "     • 

.1890 

Joseph  Stoeckle  Wilmington,  Del.  .  . 

.One 

35  " 

35     '      • 

.1888 

Welde  &  Thomas  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •• 

35    "     • 

.1888 

San  Antonio  Brewing  Co  San  Antonio,  Tex.  . 

.One 

35  " 

35     '      • 

.1888 

Jos.  Fallert  Brewing  Co  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •- 

35     '      • 

.1888 

Jos.  Fallert   Brewing   Co.  —  Second 

Order  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  .  .  . 

.One 

35  "    -• 

35     "     • 

.1889 

Katz  Bros.  .  ,  Paterson,  N.  J  

.One 

35  " 

35    ''     - 

.1888 

M.  Winter  &  Bros  Pittsburgh,  Pa  

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     • 

.1889 

Burg  &  Pfaender  Philadelphia,  Pa.  .  . 

.One 

35  "    •• 

35     "     • 

.1889 

LIST  OF  CUSTOMERS. 


89 


Number  of 
Machines. 

.One 

.One 

.One 


Name.  Address. 

Miller  Brewing  Co Rochester,  N.  Y  . 

Miller  Brewing  Co. — Second  Order.  Rochester,  N.  Y  . 

Leibinger  &  Oehm Newtown,  N.  Y. . 

John  Schuesler  Brewing  Co.    , ....  Buffalo,  N.  Y One 

Schaefer  &  Meyer  Brewing  Co  .  .  .  .Louisville,  Ky One 

Hellmann  &  Kipp Waterbury,  Conn.. .  .One 

Cincinnati  Brewing  Co Hamilton,  O One 

Cincinnati    Brewing    Co.  —  Second 

Order Hamilton,  O One 

*Oppmann  Brewing  Co Cleveland,  O One 

Schmidt  &  Bro.  .  .  .: Cincinnati,  O One 

Union  Brewing  Co Rochester,  N.  Y  .  .  .  .One 

Claussen-Sweeney  Brewing  Co Seattle,  W.  T One 

Kalmbach  &  Geisel Springfield,  Mass.. .  .One 

William  Smith  &  Co Boston,  Mass One 

Liebert  &  Obert Manay unk,  Pa One 

Ph.  Schneider  Brewing  Co Trinidad ,  Col One 

Joseph  Weibel New  Haven,  Conn  .  .One 

Joseph  Kohnle Philadelphia,  Pa  .  .  .  .One 

Willibald  Kuebler Easton,  Pa One 

^Guayaquil    Lager     Beer     Brewery 

Ass'n Guayaquil,  Ecuad .  .  .  One 

Loebs  Bros Rochester,  N.  Y  .  .  .  . One 

Loebs    Bros.    (American     Brewing 

Co.)— Second  Order Rochester,  N.  Y One 

H.  Weidemann  Brewing  Co New  Haven,  Conn  .  .  One 

Theo.  R.  Helb York,  Pa One 

Eckart  Bros Bridgeport,  Conn  .  .  .  One 

Eckart  Bros. — Second  Order Bridgeport,  Conn...  .One 

Herrall  &  Zimmerman Portland,  Ore One 

G.  Mander Elmira,  N.  Y One 

Theo.  Finkenauer Philadelphia,  Pa  ...  .One 

Theo.  Finkenauer — Second  Order  .Philadelphia,  Pa  ...  .One 


35 
18 
35 
35 
35 
35 
35 

65 

35 
35 
35 
35 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 

12 
12 

12 
12 

65 
12 

9 
9 
9 
9 
9 
9 
18 


Total  Year  of 

Refrigeration.    Completion. 
•ton.  .=  35  tons.  .1887 

"  .  .  18 
"  ••  35 
"  ••  35 


35 

35 
35 

65 

35 
35 
35 
35 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 

12 
12 

12 

65 
12 

9 
9 
9 
9 
9 
9 
18 


1888 
..1889 
. .1889 
. .1889 
..1889 
. .1889 

. .1890 
. .1889 
..1889 
. .1890 
. .1890 
..1887 
.  .1887 
. .1888 
..1888 
..1888 
..1887 
..1887 

.  .1887 
.  .1888 

. .1890 
. .1889 
..1885 
..1885 
..1886 
..1885 
. .1889 
..1887 
. .1889 


ABATTOIRS   AND  PACKING-HOUSKS. 

*T.  C.  Eastman New  York Two  no-ton.  .= 

W.  H.  Silberhorn Sioux  City,  la Two    50    "  . . 

Nelson  New  River  Platte  Meat  Co.  Zaratte,       Argentine 

Republic One  65    "  . . 

Argentine  Meat  Co.,  Limited Colon,  Argentine  Re- 
public   .One  65    "  . . 

G.  Sansinena  &  Co Buenos    Ayres,     Ar- 
gentine Republic.  .One  65    "  .. 

St.  Louis  Beef  Canning  Co E.  St.  Louis,  111 One  64   ".. 

East  Side  Hide  Association New  York One  50    "  . . 

Ryan  Brothers Cincinnati,  O One  35    "  .  . 

Rohe  &  Bro New  York One  35    ".. 

*Rohe  &  Bro.— Second  Order.      ...  New  York One  9    ".. 

Rohe  &  Bro.— Third  Order New  York One  35    "  .  . 

*Richard  Webber New  York One  35 

A.  Sander  &  Co Cincinnati,  O One  18    "  .  . 

Hart  &  Brother Wilmington,  Del  .  .  .  .One  18    "  .  . 

Burkhardt  Packing  Co Denver,  Col One  18    "  .  . 

Arnold  Bros Chicago,  111 One  18    ".. 

Arnold  Bros. — Second  Order Chicago,  111. One  18    "  .  . 

Griffin  &  McElroy Bridgeport,  Conn.   ..  One  18    ".. 

Gebhardt  W.  Zeiger Chicago,   111 One  12    "  .  . 

Wm.  Ottmann  &  Co New  York One  18 

R.  D.  Waddell Glasgow,  Scotland. .  .One  4    ".. 


220  tons.  .1884 

100  "  ..1887 

65   "  ..1890 

65   "  ..1890 

65 

.  .1890 

64 

.  .1882 

50 

..1889 

35 

..1887 

35 

..1884 

9 

..1886 

35 

..1888 

35 

..1888 

18 

..1886 

18 

..1886 

18 

..1888 

18 

..1889 

18 

.  .1889 

18 

..1889 

12 

.  .1889 

18 

.  .1890 

4 

.  .1890 

90  THE  DE  LA    VERGNE  REFRIGERA  TING  MA  CHINE    CO. 

COLD  STORAGE. 

Number  of  Total  Year  of 

Name.                                                    Address.                       Machines.  Refrigeration.  Completion. 
*Quaker  City  Cold  Storage  and  Ware- 
house Co Philadelphia,  Pa Two    65-ton.  .=130  tons.  .  1890 

Purfleet  Wharf London,  Eng Two   40  "  ..        80     "    ..1888 

Leadenhall  Market London,  Eng One     35  "  ..        35     "    ..1888 

*Washington  Market  Co Washington,  D.  C. .  .One     35  "..        35     "    ..1888 

Spiers  &  Pond London,  Eng One       4  "  ..          4     "    ..1888 

Fred  Hollender  &  Co New  York One       4  "..          4     "    ..1888 

HOTELS    AND    RESTAURANTS. 

*Murray  Hill  Hotel New  York One     g-ton  .  .  =9  tons.  .  1886 

*Plaza  Hotel New  York One     9    "    ..  9     "     ..1890 

*Portland  Hotel  Co Portland,  Ore One     4    "     ..  4     "     ..1890 

Hotel  Luehrmann Memphis,  Tenn One     2    "     ..  2     "     ..1889 

•f-Geo.  D.  Smith  (Dairy  Kitchen).  ..  .New  York One     2    "    ..  2     "     ..1888 

CHEMICAL   WORKS. 

St.  Louis  Ammonia  and  Chem.  Co. Cincinnati,  O One  i8-ton  . .  =18  tons.  .1886 

Baugh  &  Sons  Co Philadelphia,    Pa.  .  .  .One  12    "     .  .  12     "    ..1887 

M.  A.  Seed  Dry  Plate  Co St.  Louis,  Mo One  9    "    ..  9     "    ..1887 

M.  A.  Seed  Dry  Plate  Co.— Second 

Order St.  Louis,  Mo One  9    "     .  .  9     "     .  .  1890 

CONFECTIONERS  AND  CHOCOLATE  MFRS. 

Gousset  &  Eller New  York One     4-ton .  .      =4  tons  .  .  1 888 

Croft  &  Allen Philadelphia,  Pa One     4    "    ..  4     "    ..1889 

Runkel  Bros New  York One     4    "    ..  4     "    ..1889 

STEAMSHIPS. 
*Oceanic  Steamship  Co „ Str.  Attstralia One      2-ton.  .       ^2  tons  .  .  1889 

WINERIES, 

American  Champagne  Co San  Francisco,  Cal. .  .One     g-ton. .       =9  tons  .  .  1889 

ARTIFICIAL    ICE    PLANTS. 

Number  of  Total  Year  of 

Name.  Address.  Machines.        Ice-Making.     Completion. 

Bohlen-Huse    Machine    and    Lake 

Ice  Co Memphis,  Tenn One   5o-ton. .     =30  tons.  .  1887 

Bohlen-Huse    Machine    and    Lake 

Ice  Co. — Second  Order Memphis,  Tenn One   50    "    .  .         30       '    .  .1889 

Buffalo   Brewing  Co. — Second    Or- 
der  Sacramento,  Cal One   50    "    ..        30     "     ..1890 

John  R.  Tendick San  Antonio,  Tex.. .  .One  35    "    .  .        20     "     .  . 

Count  Albini Rome,  Italy OneiS    "    ..        10     "     ..1887 

Anheuser-Busch    Brewing  Ass'n — 

Fifth  Order Sherman,  Tex OneiS    "    ..        10     "    ..1889 

Anheuser-Busch    Brewing  Ass'n — 

Sixth  Order St.  Louis,  Mo One  220  "    . .      130     "    .  .  1889 

E.  M.  Barretto Manila, Philippine  Isl- 
ands  One     9    "    ..          5      "    ..1885 

E.  M.  Barretto. — Second  Order.. .  .Manila, Philippine  Isl- 
ands  One     9    "    ..          5       '     ..1886 

West   Indian  Ice  and    Refrigerating 

Co. ,  Limited Port   of   Spain ,  Trini- 
dad Island,  B.  A.  I  One     9    "    ..          5     "    ..1885 

J.  L.  Millsbaugh Fort  Concho,  Tex. .  ..One     4    "    ..          2       '    ..1884 

Edgar  Fennell Newport,  Eng One     2    "    .  I     "    ..1890 

2B2  Machines,  equivalent  in  Tons  of  Ice  melted  each  day,  11,277. 

*  Brine  plants. 

t  Partly  brine  and  partly  direct-expansion  plants. 
All  others  are  direct-expansion  plants. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


MACHINES  SOLD  FROM  JAN.  1  TO  APRIL  1,  1890. 


BREWERIES. 


Name.  Address. 

The    Christian     Moerleirt    Brewing 

Co Cincinnati,  O. . 

St.  Louis   Brewing  Ass'n,  Cherokee 

Brewery  Branch St.  Louis,  Mo One 

Fred.  Hower Brooklyn,  N.  Y Two 

Christian  Moerlein  and  Wm.  Gerst.  Nashville,  Tenn.  .  .  .One 

Hinchliffe   Bros Paterson,  N.  J One 

George  Brehm Baltimore,  Md One 

Herman  Straub  &  Co Pittsburgh,  Pa One 

The  Grasser  &   Brand    Brewing  Co. 

—Second  Order Toledo,  O One 

M.  Winter  Bros,  (second  order).  .  .  .Pittsburgh,  Pa One 

Oppman    Brewing  Co. — Second  Or- 
der  Cleveland,  O One 

Edward  Habich  Norfolk  Brewery.  .  Boston,  Mass One 

George  V.  Muth Cleveland,  O One 

Indianapolis  Brewing  Co. ,  P.  Lieber 

Branch Indianapolis,  Ind  .  .  .One 

George  Hauck Rondout,  N.  Y One 

Selig  Manilla Springfield,  Mass. . . One 


Number  of        Total  Year  of 

Machines.  Refrigeration.  Completion. 


One   loo-ton.  .=100  tons.  .1890 


65 
35 
65 
50 
50 
50 

35 
65 

65 

35 
35 

35 
18 
18 


65 
70 
65 
50 
50 
50 

35 
65 

65 
35 
35 

35 
18 

18 


1890 
1890 
1890 
1890 
1890 
1890 

1890 
1890 

1890 
1890 
1890 

1890 
1890 
1890 


ABATTOIRS  AND  PACKING  HOUSES. 

T.  M.  Sinclair  &  Co Cedar  Rapids,  la  . .  .Two    loo-ton.  .=200 

Joseph  Stern New  York One       65     "  6f 


Wm.  H.  Davis Cincinnati,  O One 

Jeremiah  Murphy St.  Louis,  Mo One 

Murray  &  Bro l Rockaway  B'ch,N.Y.One 

COLD  STORAGE. 

Otto  Huber  Brewery — Third  Order.Far  Rockaway,  N.  Y.One 


tons. .1890 
"  1890 
"  1890 
"  1890 
"  1890 


2-ton.  .=     2  tons..  1 890 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS. 

Iroquois  Hotel Buffalo,  N.  Y One         g-ton.  .=     9  tons..  1890 

CONFECTIONERS  AND  CHOCOLATE  MANUFACTURERS. 


Fobes,  Hayward  &  Co Boston,  Mass One         g-ton.  .=     9  tons. 

ARTIFICIAL  ICE-PLANTS.  ^Making. 

William  J.  Lemp. — Third  Order.  ..  .St.  Louis.  Mo Ice-Plant.  .=120  tons. 

Corryville  Artificial  Ice  Co Cincinnati,  O One     zoo-ton  60     "    . 

A.  Griesedieck  Artificial   Ice   Co. — 

Second  Order St.  Louis,  Mo One     100  60 

Gottfried  Krueger — Third  Order. .  .Newark,  N.  J Two    100  120 

New  York  Hygeia  Ice  Co.  (Limited. )New  York Two    100  120 

New  York  Steam  Co New  York One     100  60 

Otto  Huber — Fourth  Order Brooklyn,  N.  Y One       65  30 

Montgomery  Brewing  Co Montgomery,  Ala. .  .One       50  30 

John  R.  Tendick San  Antonio,  Tex. . .  One       35  20 

St.  Louis  Brewing  Ass'n,  Klausman 

Brewery  Branch — Second  OrderSt.  Louis,  Mo Ice-Plant. .  20 

St.  Louis  Brewing  Ass'n,  Schneider 

Brewery  Branch — Third  Order. St.  Louis,  Mo Ice-Plant..  30 

P.  Ballantine  &  Sons— Fourth  OrderNewark,  N.  J Ice-Plant. .  18 

Wm.  Ottman New  York Ice-Plant..  2 

Western  Brewery  Co Belleville,  111 Ice-Plant.  .  20 


1890 


.1890 
.1890 

.1890 
.1890 
.1890 
,1890 
.1890 
1899 
1890 

1890 

1890 
1890 


1890 


' 


Those  Desiring  an  Estimate  for  the  Cost  of  a 
Plant  will  Please  Note  the  Following: 

THE  insulation  and  other  conditions  vary  considerably  in 
different  establishments,  therefore  it  is  impossible  to  compile  a 
price-list  for  our  plants. 

In  justice  to  our  customers,  as  well  as  to  ourselves,  we  prefer 
to  examine  the  buildings  and  ascertain  the  actual  work  to  be 
done,  and  thus  collect  sufficient  data  to  enable  us  to  guarantee 
that  a  given  amount  of  work  will  be  satisfactorily  performed,  and 
from  which  to  make  careful  estimates  of  the  cost  of  erecting 
machines  of  ample  capacity. 

Upon  application  we  will  make  a  survey  of  premises,  and 
submit  plans  and  specifications,  with  an  estimate  of  cost  of  the 
plant,  free  of  charge. 

Parties  located  at  a  distance  desiring  to  know  by  mail  the 
probable  cost  of  a  machine,  will  please  supply  us  with  the  follow- 
ing information: 

1st.  The  length,  width,  and  height  of  the  rooms  or  cellars  to 
be  refrigerated.  If  the  cellars  are  arched,  give  us  the  height  to 
the  centre  and  to  the  spring  of  the  arches. 

2d.  What  you  desire  to  refrigerate.     Please  state  exactly. 

3d.  If  a  brewery,  the  number  of  barrels  of  wort  to  be  cooled 
per  day,  and  how  rapidly  you  desire  to  cool  it — that  is,  how  many 
barrels  per  hour,  and  from  what  temperature  down. 

4th.  If  a  packing-house  or  an  abattoir,  please  state  the  num- 
ber of  carcasses  to  be  cooled  daily  and  their  average  weight. 

5th.   The  temperature  required  in  each  room. 

6th.  The  character,  quantity,  and  temperature  of  the  water  at 
your  disposal. 

/th.  Whether  you  desire  to  refrigerate  by  the  direct  expan- 
sion of  the  gas  or  by  the  circulation  of  brine. 

8th.  The  annual  consumption  of  ice  heretofore. 

Send  a  diagram  of  the  establishment,  that  we  may  judge  of 
the  most  economical  plan  of  laying  out  the  work,  indicating  upon 
it  where  you  desire  to  locate  your  machine. 

If  you  desire  a  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  ice,  state  the  num- 
ber of  tons  of  ice  required  as  a  daily  production. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction 5 

Theory  of  Mechanical  Refrigeration 9 

Various  Systems  and  Refrigerating  Agents  Employed 13 

Twining's  Compression  Machine 16 

Gorrie's  Compressed-  Air  Machine 17 

Carre's  Absorption  Machine 21 

Mechanical  Compression .  25 

Our  Patented  System 28 

Our  Single-Acting  Compressor 29 

Our  Double-Acting  Compressor 32 

Explanation  of  Diagrams 34 

Condensers  ( Patented) 38 

Separating- Tanks  (Patented) 45 

Expansion  Coils 47 

Brine-Cooling  Coils , 51 

Ammonia  Baudelot  Cooler  (Patented) 52 

Attemperator  System  (Patented) 57 

Our  Pipe  System  (Patented) , 59 

The  Steam-Engine 62 

The  Machine  in  the  Hermann  Brewery 63 

Economy  of  Our  System 66 

Cooling  of  Abattoirs  and  Packing-Houses  .  . . 67 

The  Manufacture  of  Ice 69 

Different  Systems  of  Ice-Making 70 

Description  of  the  De  LaVergne  Ice-Making  Plant 78 

Other  Applications 82 

Sizes  of  Machines 85 

List  of  Customers  January  i,  1890 86 

Information  Regarding  Estimates 93 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Plate     i. — Office  and  Works  of  the  De  LaVergne  Refrigerating  Machine  Co. 

Plate    2. — Sectional  View  of  the  De  LaVergne  Single-Acting  Machine. 

Plate     3. — Sectional  View  of  the  De  LaVergne  Double- Acting  Machine. 

Plate    4. — Sectional  View  of  Single-Acting  Compressor. 

Plate    5. — Sectional  View  of  Double-Acting  Compressor. 

Plate    6. — Diagrams  of  14  x  28  Gas  Compressor. 

Plate     7. — Diagrams  of  12x24  Gas  Compressor. 

Plate    8. — no-ton  Machine  With  Condensers  on  Floor  Above. 

Plate    9. — Refrigerating  Plant — Old  System. 

Plate  10. — Refrigerating  Plant — New  System. 

Plate  n. — 22o-ton  Refrigerating  Machine,  with  Condensers  Above. 

Plate  12. — Discs  for  Expansion-Coils. 

Plate  13. — Fermenting-Room. 

Plate  14.— Stop-Cocks. 

Plate  15. — >^-inch  Expansion  Cock. 

Plate  16. — Fittings. 

Plate  17. — 2-inch  Flange-Union. 

Plate  18. — Fittings. 

Plate  19.— Beef  Chill-Room. 

Plate  20.— Hog  Chill-Room. 

Plate  21. — Ice-Making  Plant. 


"^  T\  LIBKARY, 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JUN   3     313 

W        ^TTfO 

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LD  21-100m-7,'39(402s) 

3707 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


